From Cold Call to Critical Care: Episode 92

BTO Program Manager Lt. Col. Adam Willis, M.D., U.S. Air Force, joins Voices from DARPA to share his remarkable journey from a ROTC physics major to a leading innovator in military medicine.

Dr. Willis discusses how a desire to apply science to help people led him down the dual paths of a Ph.D. in theoretical and appliled mechanics and a medical degree with a focus on neurology. He recounts the moment a demonstration of the DARPA-funded Revolutionizing Prosthetics program sparked his interest, leading him to cold-email a military doctor and future mentor, Col. Geoffrey Ling, who gave him a simple, life-changing piece of advice.

In this episode, Dr. Willis explains his work on groundbreaking programs like Golden Hour Evacuation (GOLDEVAC) and Making Anatomical Sense of Hemorrhage (MASH), which aim to revolutionize battlefield medicine by bringing critical care capabilities directly to the point of injury. He details his vision for an "ICU in a box" and autonomous surgical tools that could save countless lives when evacuation to a surgeon isn't possible. He also shares his unique perspective as a "Rosetta Stone," translating complex medical challenges into the language of physics and engineering to find novel solutions.