Tam N. Pham, MD, FACS, is a board-certified surgeon, Director of the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center, and a UW Professor of Surgery.

Dr. Pham has completed specialized training in burns, trauma and critical care, and his clinical practice focuses on the care of patients with burns, which includes the stabilization of major burns, excision of burn wounds and skin resurfacing in the acute phase. During rehabilitation, he provides laser treatments and corrective surgery for scars. He also attends as an intensivist in the trauma surgical intensive care unit. When treating patients, Dr. Pham’s first goal is to listen to the preferences of each of patient before formulating a plan together. There are often multiple alternatives and solutions to a concern or a problem. He strongly believes that patient and provider need to align their goals and strategy first to get the best results. Dr. Pham also believes in improving access and equity. This motivates him to continue his work at Harborview Medical Center, a safety-net hospital that takes care of many vulnerable patients.

Dr. Pham has two areas of research. The first is through Harborview Medical Center’s multidisciplinary Geriatric Injury Workgroup (GIW), which aims to better detect frailty and its impact on aging patients. Older individuals are at higher risk of sustaining trauma and burns, and fare worse than younger patients. His second focus is to improve telehealth and regional access for burn patients. Dr. Pham’s work to improve access through technology consists of just-in time education through videos, store-and-forward pictures (E-care) as well as videoconferencing capabilities. Dr. Pham is principal investigator in a federally-funded clinical trial that tests whether technology assistance helps improve adherence to post-discharge therapy goals. Dr. Pham is also a member of the American College of Surgeons and has taken on leadership roles in the American Burn Association.

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