Electrical engineering alumnus and OECE recipient, Dr. David Dries, MD, has been designated a Master of Critical Care Medicine (MCCM) by the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) –  the highest honor bestowed by the world’s leading organization of critical care physicians.  Just 53 people worldwide have received the honor since the organization’s founding in 1970. 

MCCM is awarded to an individual who has been a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM) for at least five years and has distinguished him or herself by achieving national and international professional prominence through personal character, leadership, eminence in clinical practice, outstanding contributions to research, and education in critical care medicine. 

Dr. Dries is an assistant medical director for surgery in HealthPartners Medical Group, a professor of surgery, a professor of anesthesiology, a clinical adjunct professor of emergency medicine and the John F. Perry, Jr. endowed Chair of trauma surgery at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Dries received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1975 and 1977, respectively.  He attended medical school at the University of Chicago and completed postgraduate training as a general surgeon with added qualifications in surgical critical care spending time at Duke University, the University of California at Irvine, and Loyola Medical Center in Chicago.  Dr. Dries received an Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering (OECE) award from Purdue in 2009.