CINCINNATI - ColoradoDesk -- Dr. Jay Johannigman, a longtime trauma and critical care surgeon and retired military colonel, has returned to Cincinnati after completing 46 years of service in the United States military.

Johannigman returned to Cincinnati in 2025 and retired from military service later that year. His career included multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, leadership in trauma and critical care, and decades of work connecting military medicine with civilian trauma systems.

His return also continues a long connection to Cincinnati. Johannigman previously held leadership roles at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He was closely involved with Cincinnati CSTARS and served as director of the University of Cincinnati Institute for Military Medicine.

The military-civilian partnership has helped prepare military medical personnel to care for critically injured patients in high-acuity trauma environments.

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Since returning to the region, Johannigman has continued his work on emergency preparedness in Cincinnati, including trauma system planning, coordination among medical teams and first responders, and preparation for mass-casualty incidents.

He has also focused attention on the changing needs of older trauma patients. Older adults may arrive with multiple medical conditions, medications, and mobility challenges that complicate treatment and recovery. Johannigman has advocated for closer coordination among trauma surgery, geriatric medicine, rehabilitation, and other specialties, with greater attention to whether patients can return home and remain independent.

His military career included extensive experience treating severely injured patients in combat environments. One of the most widely recognized examples of Dr. Jay Johannigman's military trauma work came in Iraq in 2003, when he helped care for nine-year-old Saleh Khalaf after the child suffered critical injuries. The case became known as "Operation Lion Heart."

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Johannigman also helped develop the Critical Care Air Transport Team model, or CCATT, which allows critically ill and injured patients to receive intensive-care-level treatment during aircraft transport.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Kenyon College and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Additional information about Jay Johannigman, Cincinnati trauma surgeon, is available through his professional profiles and published work.

About Dr. Jay Johannigman

Dr. Jay Johannigman is a Cincinnati trauma and critical care surgeon with more than four decades of experience in military medicine, academic surgery, and civilian trauma care. His work has included Cincinnati CSTARS, aeromedical critical care, trauma-system development, and emergency preparedness.

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