Dr. Sperry is a Professor with a primary appointment in the Department of Surgery, Division of General and Trauma Surgery and secondary appointments in the Department of Critical Care Medicine and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of Pittsburgh.He is a physician trained in general surgery and surgical critical care with a masters’ degree in public health. Dr. Sperry's research focuses on the elucidation of the mechanisms that are responsible for sex-based outcome differences following injury, clinical outcomes following traumatic injury (primarily on massive transfusion), prehospital resuscitation, early correction of the coagulopathy that complicates injury, and the ability to predict a complicated post-injury course in the early prehospital and trauma bay setting. He is the principal investigator (PI) for the Linking Investigations Trauma and Emergency Services (LITES) network funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and PI of the PAMPer trial and STAAMP trials funded by the Prehospital Use of Plasma in Traumatic Hemorrhage (PUPTH) program and the Tranexamic Acid Clinical Research (TACR) program, under the direction of the Department of the Army.He is a co-investigator for the Trans-Agency Research Consortium for Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy (TACTIC) funded thru NHLBI, as well as multiple other NIH-funded grants. His overarching goal is to improve outcomes following traumatic injury.
Education & Training
- BA, Case Western Reserve University
- MD, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
- General Surgery Residency, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
- MPH, Epidemiology/Biostatistics, University of Texas Houston, School of Public Health
- Surgical Critical Care/Trauma Fellowship, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Representative Publications
Dr. Sperry's publications can be reviewed through PubMed.
Research, Clinical, and/or Academic Interests
- Trauma outcomes
- Sex-based outcome differences
- Coagulopathy
- Hemorrhage control
- Prehospital trauma care
- Prehospital clinical trials in trauma
- Multicenter clinical trials in trauma
Research Grants
Linking Investigations in Trauma and Emergency Services (LITES) Network (PI)
DoD TATRC,W81XWH-16-R-0033, 9/2016 – 8/2025
The purpose of LITES is to create and successfully execute a clinical trial research network of US trauma systems and centers with the capability to conduct prospective, multicenter, injury care and outcomes research of relevance to the Department of Defense (DOD).
Pragmatic, Prehospital Group O Whole Blood Early Resuscitation Pilot Trial (PI)
NIH, R34 HL135224-01A1, 2017–2021
Pilot clinical trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of prehospital thru in-hospital whole blood as compared to standard care practice in patients at risk of hemorrhagic shock.
Study of Tranexamic Acid During Air Medical Prehospital Transport (STAAMP) Trial (PI)
Department of Army, W81XWH-13-2-0080, 2014-2021
Prospective randomized interventional trial assessing the clinical significance of prehospital air medical tranexamic acid in patients at risk for hemorrhagic shock following traumatic injury.