Carla Pugh, MD, PhD is the Thomas Krummel Professor of Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and Director of the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement (T.E.C.I.) Center. Her clinical area of expertise is Acute Care Surgery and her research involves the use of simulation, advanced engineering technologies, and artificial intelligence to develop new approaches for assessing and defining mastery in clinical procedural skills. Dr. Pugh is considered to be a leading, international expert on the use of sensors and motion tracking technologies for performance measurement.
Dr. Pugh obtained her undergraduate degree at U.C. Berkeley in Neurobiology and her medical degree at Howard University School of Medicine. Upon completion of her surgical training at Howard University Hospital, she attended Stanford University to obtain her PhD in Education. She has over 150 peer reviewed publications, is an Associate Editor for Annals of Surgery and has had over 20 Million dollars in research funding throughout her career.
Dr. Pugh holds multiple patents on the use of sensor and data acquisition technology to measure and characterize hands-on clinical skills. Currently, over two hundred medical and nursing schools are using one of her sensor-enabled training tools for their students and trainees. Her work has received numerous awards from medical and engineering organizations, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama at the White House in 2011. In 2014, she was invited to give a TEDMED talk on the potential uses of technology to transform how we measure clinical skills in medicine. In 2018, Dr. Pugh was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. In 2019 she was inducted into the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. In 2020 she became a Councilor and General Surgery Board Director for the American Board of Surgery and in 2021 she was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine. Currently she is President of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS).
More information about Dr. Pugh and her research can be found here.
Selected publications from PubMed
An Unusual Case of Appendicitis Entrapped Within a Spigelian Hernia.
Pugh C, Hudson C, Snoddy K, Reid E, Heinzman S
Cureus. 2026 Aug;18(8):e114778 doi: 10.7759/cureus.114778.
A scoping review of artificial intelligence in acute care surgery: promise, pitfalls, and a path forward.
Kewalramani D, Chattopadhyay K, Benton J, Hua J, Cheruvu S, Ali H, Anuncio S, Joshi A, Mylarappa S, Vidhya G, Choron RL, Teichman AL, Jopling JK, Madani A, Brat G, Coleman JR, Cohen JV, Pugh C, Barie PS, Loftus TJ, Narayan M, AiCCESS Consortium
Int J Surg. 2026 Feb 1;112(2):2214-2224 doi: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000003794.
A qualitative study of micro and macroaggression experienced by Black surgical trainees through an anonymous reporting.
Nataliansyah MM, Alimi YR, Barry L, Campbell AR, Ubesie KV, Stewart J 4th, Pugh C, Watkins A, Hayes-Dixon A, Clarke CN
Am J Surg. 2025 Sep;247:116371 doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2025.116371.
Key Issues in Surgical Residency Education: Recommendations of the Blue Ribbon II Committee Residency Education Subcommittee.
Mellinger JD, Brasel K, Elster E, Fried G, Hashimoto DA, Jarman B, Joshi ART, Kelz RR, Lindeman B, Pugh C, Reznick R
Ann Surg. 2025 Jan 1;281(1):16-20 doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006434.
Opportunities and Applications of Educational Technologies in Surgical Education and Assessment.
Fried GM, Varas J, Telem DA, Greenberg CC, Hashimoto DA, Paige JT, Pugh C
Ann Surg. 2025 Jan 1;281(1):34-39 doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000006367.
The surgical workplace requires rapid processing of a wide range of data from multiple sources. Surgical teams depend on information exchange, pattern recognition, cohesion, and the mutual respect and trust of fellow team members to make complex surgical decisions. When the health system seeks to provide surgical care within a social ecosystem that embodies a caste infrastructure, the result is a significant weakness in the delivery of high-quality care. Caste systems are grounded in historically ingrained inequalities rooted in the belief that certain groups of people are inferior based on gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Leaders of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS) will present new and revealing research and personal stories that underscore how microaggressions in the surgical workforce serve to hinder health systems and patient outcomes. The panel session will elaborate on past challenges, and of equal importance, suggest potential solutions to forge a path forward including allyship.
With Johnson & Johnson MedTech
Published
Apr 2022
Program Association of women surgeons – Dr Sharon Stein (USA) Society of Black Academic Surgeons – Dr Andrea Hayes-Jordan (USA) Society of Asian Academic Surgeons – Dr Quan-Yang Duh (USA) Ensuring educational opportunities – Dr Carla Pugh (USA) The role of journals in achieving diversity – Dr Melina Kibbe (USA) Health Equity and the Role of the Private Sector – Dr Pierre Theodore (USA) Discussion – All faculty moderated by Dr Steven Wexner (USA), Dr Patricia Turner (USA) and Dr Mariana Berho (USA)
With Johnson & Johnson MedTech
Published
Mar 2021
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