Dr. Paula A. Ferrada

Paula Ferrada, MD, FACS, FCCM, MAMSE, is a board-certified surgeon, mentor, and educator with more than a decade of experience. She joined Inova in 2021 and currently serves as the Division and System Chief of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. In addition to her leadership roles, Dr. Ferrada served as the Program Director for the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She has enhanced the educational curriculum, restructured several rotations, and expanded faculty development opportunities. Prior to joining Inova, Dr. Ferrada was a Professor of Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where she served as the Program Director for the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship and the Medical Director of the Surgical and Trauma Intensive Care Unit at VCU Health Systems. She was also an elected board member of the Medical College of Virginia Physicians. Dr. Ferrada completed her medical education in Colombia, her native country, before relocating to the United States to pursue further training. After a year of research at the University of Miami, she joined Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, one of Harvard’s major teaching hospitals, for her surgical residency. She was the first Colombian woman to graduate from a surgical subspecialty at Harvard. Dr. Ferrada then continued her training in trauma and critical care at the University of Pittsburgh before joining the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center as their first acute care surgery fellow. Dr. Ferrada’s passion for educating and mentoring young surgeons began during her residency when she became an ultrasound instructor with the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Since then, she has received multiple teaching awards from various institutions and has held leadership roles within the ACS, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Virginia chapter of the Association for Women Surgeons, and the Pan-American Trauma Society. An internationally recognized advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion, Dr. Ferrada is also an esteemed researcher. She serves on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals, including Surgery, Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, and Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and she is an associate editor for the American Journal of Surgery.

Dr. Ferrada is highly rated in 4 conditions, according to our data. Her clinical expertise encompasses Low Blood Pressure, Myocardial Contusion, Ogilvie Syndrome, Ileostomy, and Hernia Surgery.

She is actively involved in clinical research, co-authoring 137 peer reviewed articles and participating in 3 clinical trials.