Dr. Carla Pugh

Dr. Carla Pugh is Professor of Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement (T.E.C.I.) Center. Her clinical area of expertise is Acute Care Surgery. Her research involves the use of simulation and advanced engineering technologies to develop new approaches for assessing and defining competency in clinical procedural skills. Dr. Pugh is nationally recognized for her research on the use of sensors and simulation technology to assess and quantitatively define hands-on clinical skills. Currently, more than 200 medical and nursing schools use one of Dr. Pugh’s sensor-enabled training tools for their students and trainees.

In 2011, Dr. Pugh received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barak Obama at the White House. 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 April 2018, 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 went to Stanford University and obtained a PhD in Education. She holds six patents on the use of sensor and data acquisition technology to measure and characterize hands-on clinical skills.

“The future of safety, efficiency and high quality care is heavily dependent on the investigation and incorporation of advanced engineering technologies. The ISE has assembled a critical mass of key stakeholders in this process. I consider it a huge honor and privilege to join this prestigious group,” Pugh explains.