Laurie J. Punch

LJ Punch is an American critical care surgeon, an associate professor of surgery, and a scholar within the Institute for Public Health at Washington University School of Medicine. Punch is also an activist in the fight against gun violence and directs StopTheBleedSTL, located at "The T" anti-violence center in St. Louis, which runs programs to educate the community on how to reduce the impact of trauma, injury, and violence in St. Louis. As a physician, educator, and activist, Punch aims to propagate the idea of “Radical Generosity” as means to better his community and the lives of those around him.

Early life and education Punch was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Wellsville, Ohio with his grandmother and mother. From a young age, Punch loved music. Mrs. Carter taught Punch that the best way to help someone is to “give them something to give”.

Punch left his small town of Wellsville to attend college at Yale University. It was in medical school that Punch experienced poverty and trauma in patients of his own and started to gain interest in the idea of going into trauma surgery as a specialty. Punch's career at Washington University in St. Louis has since been centered around performing trauma surgery as well promoting equity within his community and educating the St. Louis community on gun violence. Punch educates students at the undergraduate and graduate level on gun violence as well as the entire spectrum of illness and healing associated with violent crime. As the Director of StopTheBleedSTL, Punch has implemented trainings and curricula inspired by the national “Stop the Bleed” initiative StopTheBleedSTL hosts trainings, classes, and events for the community at "The T" which is the anti-violence center on Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis that Punch started to create a safe and supportive environment with which to gather community members. One of the classes that is run at "The T" involves teaching people the three quick actions they can take to stop bleeding in victims of violence to potentially save a life. One statistic that Punch uses in his training program is that 20% of trauma deaths are preventable, and bleeding is the number one cause of those deaths. He emphasized in his message that violence is a public health issue and it not only causes bullet wounds, but lasting wounds in the lives of families and communities associated with gunshot victims. In addition, Punch was a Governing Board Proxy of St. Louis integrated health network. Punch also raised awareness in St. Louis about the overwhelming majority of patients on ventilators that were black or brown. Punch reported that there were 3x as many COVID cases in historically black neighbourhoods of St. Louis compared to historically white areas of St. Louis. 2018 Featured in "St. Louis trauma surgeon taking his lifesaving work outside the hospital"Trauma Surgeon Teaching How"

Awards and honors

2019 “Humanism in Medicine award” - Distinguished Service Teaching Award 2019 Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award 2018-2020 Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellowship Kim, P. J., Attinger, C. E., Constantine, T., Crist, B. D., Faust, E., Hirche, C. R., Lavery, L. A., Messina, V. J., Ohura, N., Punch, L. J., Wirth, G. A., Younis, I., & Téot, L. (2020). Negative pressure wound therapy with instillation: International consensus guidelines update. International Wound Journal, 17(1), 174–186. Andrade, E. G., Hayes, J. M., & Punch, L. J. (2019). Enhancement of Bleeding Control 1.0 to Reach Communities at High Risk for Urban Gun Violence: Acute Bleeding Control. JAMA surgery, 154(6), 549–550. Andrade, E. G., Hayes, J. M., & Punch, L. J. (Accepted/In press). Stop the bleed: The impact of trauma first aid kits on post-training confidence among community members and medical professionals. American journal of surgery. Punch, L. J., Self, D. W., Nestler, E. J., & Taylor, J. R. (1997). Opposite modulation of opiate withdrawal behaviors on microinfusion of a protein kinase A inhibitor versus activator into the locus coeruleus or periaqueductal gray. Journal of Neuroscience, 17(21), 8520–8527.