PASE Program

Trauma-Informed Care at UCLA

The Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) initiative at UCLA is a health system-wide effort to integrate trauma-informed principles into emergency and acute care settings. The program focuses on improving how providers recognize, respond to and mitigate the effects of trauma in clinical environments, particularly in high-acuity settings such as the emergency department.

Five people standing before UCLA Trauma Informed Care presentation screen

Project Leads

  • UCLA Faculty PI: Catherine Juillard, MD, MPH
  • Program Manager: Daniela Salinas, MPH, Erik Coll, MPH, BSN, RN

Staff

  • April Thames, PhD – Professor-in-Residence, UCLA; Chief of Medical Psychology/ Neuropsychology
  • S. Ariane Christie, MD – Assistant Professor-In-Residence, UCLA; Co-Director PASE, Surgical Critical Care and Trauma Surgery 
  • Kenechukwu Ojukwu, MD, MS, MPP – Assistant Professor, UCLA; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
  • Mark Yost, MD – General Surgery Resident, UCLA; PASE Research Trainee
  • Garrett Salzman, MD, MS – Resident Physician, UCLA; PASE Research Trainee
  • Elizabeth Samuels, MD – Associate Professor, UCLA; Emergency Medicine
  • Sha’Shonda Revels, MD , MS – UCLA General Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Critical Care
  • Tara A. Russell, MD, MPH, PhD – Assistant Professor-in-Residence, UCLA; Colon and Rectal Surgery, General Surgery
  • Natacha D. Emerson, PhD – Assistant Clinical Professor, UCLA; Clinical Psychologist
  • Krista Tabeunca, PhD – Assistant Clinical Professor, UCLA; Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Stephanie Punt, PhD – UCLA; Clinical Neuropsychologist
  • Kelly Kohler, PSY.D – Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA; Population Behavioral Health
  • Emnet Gammada, PhD – Clinical Geriatric Neuropsychology Fellow, UCLA; Semel HCI Center
  • Theresa “TT” Tobias – Community Health Worker, UCLA; HEaL
  • Paige Mahan – Community Health Worker, UCLA; HEaL
  • Community Parter Speakers sharing as a Lived Experience Expert
  • Fanny Dissak Delon, MD, PhD – Qualitative Methods Research Expert
  • Jennifer No, – MD Candidate, Rush Medical Student; PASE Research Trainee
  • Brittany Robinson, MD, MPH – Resident Physician, UCLA; PASE Research Trainee

Approach

This initiative uses a mixed-methods, implementation science approach to evaluate how trauma-informed care training influences provider knowledge, attitudes and clinical practices. Through structured trainings (such as CICARE + TIC), pre- and postassessment, and qualitative interviews, the project examines how trauma-informed principles can be effectively integrated into routine care delivery across emergency and acute care settings.

Impact

This work generates evidence on how workforce training can drive system-level change in patient experience and care delivery. The curriculum is aligned with and informed by national efforts led by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, positioning UCLA as an early adopter and implementation site for trauma-informed care training within Level-1 trauma and acute care settings.

UCLA has successfully delivered a large amount of Trauma-Informed Care trainings over the last few years, contributing to the refinement and real-world application of this emerging curriculum. Building on this foundation, the initiative has continued to evolve, with expansion across UCLA Health and implementation at a system-wide level within emergency departments.

This progression reflects a shift from pilot training to scalable health system integration, demonstrating how trauma-informed principles can be embedded into routine clinical practice. The work not only advances institutional culture change but also contributes to national conversations on standardizing trauma-informed approaches in trauma and emergency care, with the potential for replication across other health systems.