Giavonni M. Lewis, MD, MSci, FACS, FABA

Professor of Surgery | Director, University of Utah Burn Center | Program Director, Burn Surgery Fellowship

Research Profile

Dr. Giavonni M. Lewis leads a multidisciplinary academic program focused on improving outcomes after burn injury through clinical trials, translational wound science, burn critical care, technology-enabled diagnosis, telemedicine, disaster preparedness, and survivor-centered recovery. Her work integrates the full continuum of burn care: early triage, resuscitation, operative decision-making, wound healing, infection prevention, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and long-term functional recovery.

Dr. Lewis serves as Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah and Director of the University of Utah Burn Center. She also directs the ABA-verified Burn Surgery Fellowship and has built a research and education platform that links bedside clinical questions with pragmatic investigation, regional systems development, and national burn-care standards. Her academic work reflects a consistent focus on moving evidence into practice for patients with complex burn, frostbite, soft tissue, traumatic, and critical care needs.

Her research portfolio centers on five major areas: burn wound assessment and diagnostic technology; regenerative and biologic wound therapies; burn resuscitation, critical care, and infection prevention; pediatric and global burn care; and equitable access to burn expertise through telemedicine, regional education, and disaster-response systems. She has served as principal investigator, site principal investigator, and co-investigator on studies evaluating enzymatic debridement, amniotic-derived wound products, autologous skin constructs, antimicrobial technology, thermography, multispectral imaging, burn image triage, acute burn resuscitation, frostbite outcomes, and trauma-related psychological recovery.

Academic and Educational Background

Dr. Lewis earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Barry University and her Doctor of Medicine from Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed general surgery residency at Loyola University Medical Center, burn surgery fellowship at Harborview Medical Center/University of Washington Burn Center, and surgical critical care fellowship at Washington Hospital Center. She later completed a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation at the University of Utah.

She is board certified by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. Her academic preparation combines foundational laboratory science, clinical investigation, burn surgery, trauma systems, critical care, and program development.

Research Focus Areas

Burn Wound Assessment, Imaging, and Triage

Dr. Lewis advances diagnostic strategies that improve early burn wound assessment and treatment planning. Her work includes burn depth assessment using thermography, image-based triage tools, battlefield and regional burn diagnosis, telemedicine-based consultation, and multispectral imaging with artificial intelligence for burn wound evaluation. This research addresses one of the central challenges in burn care: determining wound depth, healing potential, and operative need early enough to improve outcomes and reduce avoidable delay.

Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Wound Therapies

Dr. Lewis has led and participated in clinical studies evaluating advanced wound products and biologic therapies for acute, chronic, and complex wounds. Her work includes studies of NexoBrid for pediatric and adult burn injury, SkinTE, amniotic-derived products, acellular particulate amniotic fluid, and nanobubble-based disinfection strategies for nosocomial pathogens. This area of her work links operative burn surgery, wound biology, infection control, and regenerative medicine.

Burn Critical Care, Resuscitation, and Infection Prevention

Dr. Lewis contributes to multicenter and institutional studies focused on burn resuscitation, critical care quality, infectious complications, and systems-based improvement. Her work includes the Acute Burn Resuscitation Multicenter Prospective Trial, research on central-line associated bloodstream infection prevention in the burn-trauma ICU, glucose protocols in burn patients, urinary catheter antimicrobial strategies, and critical care outcomes after severe burn injury.

Frostbite, Trauma, and Military-Relevant Burn Systems

Dr. Lewis’s current and developing work includes frostbite outcomes, military-relevant burn triage, battlefield burn diagnosis, and regional disaster preparedness. She has developed and taught burn disaster and mass casualty courses designed to strengthen initial burn management across regional and rural systems while patients await transfer or specialty consultation.

Pediatric, Global, and Survivor-Centered Burn Outcomes

Dr. Lewis’s scholarship includes pediatric burn injury, international burn-care disparities, survivor-centered research priorities, healthcare utilization after thermal injury, psychosocial recovery, and long-term reintegration after injury. Her publications and collaborations emphasize burn care as a longitudinal process that extends beyond wound closure to include functional recovery, family support, mental health, rehabilitation, and return to life.

Leadership in Academic Burn Surgery

Dr. Lewis holds national leadership roles that shape burn care standards, education, and verification. She has served as an American Burn Association Verification Site Visit Reviewer, member of the ABA Verification Committee, Chair of the ABA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, ABA Telehealth Ambassador, and Course Director or Co-Course Director for national ABA educational programming. She serves as Associate Editor for Surgical Innovation and as Vice Chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Burns Committee.

At the University of Utah, Dr. Lewis leads burn center quality, interdisciplinary practice development, fellowship education, resident and medical student teaching, and regional burn outreach. She has mentored trainees across the educational continuum, including high school students, undergraduate students, medical students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty.

Selected Current and Recent Research Activities

• Principal Investigator, Nanobubbles for disinfection of nosocomial pathogens
• Principal Investigator, FROST: Frostbite Multicenter Observational Trial
• Principal Investigator, NEXT / advanced burn wound product evaluation
• Principal Investigator, NexoBrid pediatric burn trial
• Principal Investigator, SkinTE autologous homologous skin construct study
• Principal Investigator, Burn depth assessment with thermography
• Principal Investigator, Triage and Diagnostic of Burn Images Seed Grant
• Site Principal Investigator, Acute Burn Resuscitation Multicenter Prospective Trial
• Site Principal Investigator, Trauma Survivors Outcomes and Support / PTSD and comorbidity pragmatic trial
• Principal Investigator, Expanded access acellular particulate amniotic fluid for acute and chronic burn wounds

Selected Scholarly Contributions

Dr. Lewis has published in leading journals across burn surgery, surgical critical care, dermatology, immunology, and wound healing, including Annals of Surgery, JAMA Surgery, Journal of Burn Care & Research, Burns, eLife, JAMA Dermatology, BMC Infectious Diseases, and Journal of Experimental Medicine. Her selected work includes studies on burn resuscitation practices, burn-related healthcare utilization, pressure injury prevention in severe burns, CLABSI prevention in the burn-trauma ICU, pediatric enzymatic debridement, human skin tissue immunology after burn injury, and survivor-generated research priorities.

She also contributed burn wound management chapters to Total Burn Care, one of the major reference texts in the field.