Mackenzie R. Cook, M.D.

  • Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, School of Medicine
  • Surgery Core Clinical Experience Director, Surgery, School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Mackenzie Cook is a trauma surgeon in OHSU’s Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, with an added focus on:

  • ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) management and transport
  • Surgical stabilization of rib fractures
  • Serious illness communication

He co-directs the Surgery Clinical Experience clerkship program.

His research interests include:

  • Serious illness communication
  • Surgical stabilization of rib fractures and chest wall injury
  • Curriculum development in medical education

Dr. Cook was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a small town in Connecticut. He attended college at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and then spent a year backpacking and skiing in Utah before attending medical school at Duke University in Durham, N.C. 

He spent his dedicated research year in medical school at the University of Wisconsin in the endocrine surgery lab as a Howard Hughes medical scholar. He then headed west for residency at OHSU,  where he completed a dedicated research year in the Trauma Research Institute of Oregon.  He graduated from residency in 2016 and completed a surgical critical care fellowship at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in 2017.

He joined the faculty at OHSU in the fall of 2017 and has built his clinical practice around caring for the sickest and most severely injured patients in Oregon. He joined the OHSU ECMO team as an intensivist (a critical care specialist) and as part of the OHSU mobile ECMO team, flying throughout the Pacific Northwest to care for the most critically ill patients. 

He has also developed a significant clinical interest in treating patients with blunt chest wall injuries.  These can be debilitating injuries and he was the first surgeon in Oregon to offer minimally invasive surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF). 

He has maintained a strong interest in improving communication with patients and families in the ICU as well as teaching the next generation of physicians.

Dr. Cook lives in Portland with his wife, Crystal, their three kids and two rambunctious dogs. Avid hikers, skiers, travelers and climbers, the Cook family is happy to call Portland home.

Education and training

    • B.A., 2005, Cornell University
    • M.D., 2010, Duke University
  • Residency

    • General Surgery, OHSU, Portland, OR, 2010-2016
  • Fellowship

    • Surgical Critical Care, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, 2016-2017
  • Certifications

    • General Surgery, American Board of Surgery, 2017
    • Surgical Critical Care, American Board of Surgery, 2017

Memberships and associations:

  • American College of Surgeons
  • Association for Surgical Education
  • Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma
  • American Association for the Surgery of Trauma

Areas of interest

  • Extracorporeal life support
  • Surgical stabilization of rib fractures
  • Primary palliative care in the surgical ICU

Honors and awards

  • Golden Rose Award for Outstanding Team Service, OHSU, 2019
  • Roger Alberty MD Award for Outstanding Teaching, OHSU Surgery, 2016
  • American College of Surgeons Resident Award for Exemplary Teaching, national top ten finalist, 2015
  • Howard P. Lewis Award, outstanding teaching by a resident, OHSU School of Medicine, 2013

Publications

Elsevier pure profile

Selected publications

  • Crannell, W.C., C. Boes, K. Brasel and M. Cook. Evaluating the Educational Effectiveness of an 8-week Patient Management Course for Surgical Interns: a Nine-year Analysis.  Am J. Surg. 2020. May;2019(5)800-803. 
  • Bonanno, A., M. Cook, K. Fair, E. Dewey and L. Kiraly.  Confidentiality Concerns for Surgical Residents as Educational Research Subjects: A Pilot Study.  Am J. Surg. 2020 Jan 25;S0002-9610(20)30058-1. 
  • Cook, M. D. Hughes, S. Deal, M. Sarap, T. Hughes, K. Deveney, K. Brasel and A. Alseidi.  When Rural is No Longer Rural: Demand for Subspecialty Trained Surgeons Increases with Increasing Population of a Non-Metropolitan Area.  Am J Surg. 2019 Jun 12;. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2019.06.004. 
  • Bonanno A., L. Kiraly, T. Siegel, K. Brasel and M. Cook. Surgical Palliative Care Training in General Surgery Residency: An Educational Needs Assessment.  Am J. Surg. 2019. Jan 17. piiS0002-9610(18)31475-2.
  • Hughes, D. M. Cook, S. Deal, T. Hughes, M. Sarap, K. Brasel and A. Alseidi. Rural Surgeons’ Perspectives on Necessity of Post-Residency Training are Stable Across Generations.  Am. J. Surg. 2019. Feb;217(2):296-300.
  • Deal, S., M. Cook, D. Hughes, M. Sarap, T. Hughes, K. Brasel and A. Alseidi. Training for a career in rural or non-metropolitan surgery – a practical needs assessment. J Surg Educ. 2018. Nov;75(6):e229-e233.  
  • Cook, M., K. O’Connell, Q. Qiu, A. Riggle, T. Shoultz, R. Maine, S. Arbabi, G. O’Keefe, J. Cuschieri, R. Maier and B. Robinson.  Duration of Respiratory Failure After Trauma is Not Associated with Increased Long Term Mortality. Crit. Care Med. 2018. Aug;46(8):1263-1268.
  • Cook, M., J. Badulak, B. Coruh, L. Kiraly, D. Zonies, J. Cuschieri and E. Bulger.  Fellowship Training in Extracorporeal Life Support: Characterization and Educational Needs Assessment. J Crit. Care. 2018. Aug;46:159-161.
  • Graf, J., M. Cook, S. Schecter, K. Deveney, P. Jofmann, D. Grey, L. Akoko, A. Mwanga, K. Salum and W. Schecter. Coalition for Clinical Global Surgery Education: The Alliance for Global Clinical Training. J Surg Educ. 2018 May - Jun;75(3):688-696. 

Publications

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