John W. Overton

John W. Overton, Jr. earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Medical Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. After initial years in residency training, followed by six years of full-time inner-city emergency medicine that fostered interest in trauma care, Dr. Overton returned to residency training, completing general and cardiothoracic surgical residencies. His interests in trauma consulting and improving trauma care have...See more

John W. Overton, Jr. earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Medical Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. After initial years in residency training, followed by six years of full-time inner-city emergency medicine that fostered interest in trauma care, Dr. Overton returned to residency training, completing general and cardiothoracic surgical residencies. His interests in trauma consulting and improving trauma care have continued throughout his career. He was one of the earliest adopters of a regional trauma database in the 1980s and contributed to the development of the National Cardiac Surgical Database in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Over a two-year period in the late 1990s Dr. Overton led a team that focused on reducing mortality following cardiac surgery in conjunction with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Significant and sustained process improvement and reduction in post-operative cardiac surgical death followed completion of the team endeavor. Dr. Overton's surgical career has been influenced by his life-long interest in aviation and safety, employing aviation safety principles he learned as a pilot to improve surgical care. He has been a general aviation pilot for over three decades. Following his retirement from clinical surgery, Dr. Overton remains an active pilot and teaches medical and surgical colleagues principles of safety and risk management. He is a former member of the board of directors for the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, and in 2011 he was appointed to serve as the interim medical officer for the National Transportation Safety Board. He is a proponent of a just culture and teaches the subjects of Just Culture and Threat and Error Management to medical, surgical and transport teams. Eileen Frazer, R.N., Certified Medical Transport Executive; former chief flight nurse, chairperson for the Association of Air Medical Services' (A See less