Dr. Thomas Scalea was born in Rochester, New York.  He attended the University of Virginia and then served the Medical College of Virginia.  Dr. Scalea did his residency at the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York, and his Trauma Critical Care Fellowship at New York Medical College.  Following his fellowship, Dr. Scalea began his career at the Kings County Hospital/Downstate Medical Center.  He became Chief of Trauma and Critical Care and rose to the rank of Professor.  He also founded the Department of Emergency Medicine at Downstate. 

In 1997, Dr. Scalea became the Physician-in-Chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland, the nation’s only freestanding trauma hospital.  Several years later, he became the first medical school endowed Professor of Trauma, when he was appointed the Francis X. Kelly Professor of Trauma Surgery.