The innovation identifies high-risk frail patients at bedside so surgeons and patients can make informed decisions on the patient’s surgical treatment plan. It is proven to increase survival rates, reduce complications and lower costs, all while providing the best patient-centered care.

Upon accepting the award during the May 13 ceremony in Washington, D.C., Hall said VA is uniquely positioned to ensure the successful implementation of medical innovations such as The Surgical Pause.

“This work would not be possible in any other environment than the VA,” said Hall. “It relied on collaboration with the private sector, in which I also work, but it is only within the VA that shares a unified mission toward the Veteran that the incentives are properly aligned with the kind of leadership and the kind of resources that was able to take this idea to national scale in such a short period of time. The VA is a precious jewel hidden in plain sight, and at the risk of preaching to the choir, please continue to nurture and protect it.”

Yale educated and an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, Hall is also a surgeon at UPMC and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

VAPHS Director Donald Koenig said the health care system is honored to assist investigators such as Hall in finding innovative ways to improve the health of Veterans. 

“Dr. Hall and his team’s work with The Surgical Pause is just one of the many ways our providers, investigators and support staff at VA Pittsburgh work together to develop health care innovations to improve the lives of those who served,” said Koenig. “This particular innovation has not only improved care for Veterans, but is also helping Americans nationwide, and citizens around the world, as more and more health care organizations adopt it for their own.” 

Forty-two VA medical centers nationwide, along with 33 in progress, and numerous private health care entities globally have adopted The Surgical Pause.

The innovation is one of many credited to VA Pittsburgh, which hosts four VA Centers of Excellence for research:

Hall’s award includes $50,000 per year for up to three years to supplement his ongoing research. In addition to Hall, five other VA investigators from around the nation were recognized for groundbreaking research aimed at helping Veterans – and all Americans – live longer, more meaningful lives.

The awards ceremony kicked off VA Research May 13-16, which this year celebrates 100 years of VA research. 

Keynote speaker the Honorable Paul R. Lawrence, Ph.D., Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs and an Army Veteran, said VA research “is one of the most powerful ways” VA fulfills its mission to care for Veterans and their families “by turning science into care, innovation into action and discovery into results.”

Lawrence said VA research resulted in some of the most significant medical breakthroughs in modern history, including discovering the link between smoking and lung cancer, invention of the pacemaker, proving the effectiveness of the shingles vaccine, development of a prosthetic arm controlled by thought, and bringing COVID treatments “from concept to care in record time.”

Dr. Steven L. Lieberman, VA’s Acting Under Secretary for Health, credited VA’s researchers and Veterans who volunteer for studies with bringing those and other medical innovations from concept to reality. 

“We have the most dedicated researchers with the best mission in government, to care for our nation’s Veterans,” said Lieberman. “This, combined with the commitment of Veterans serving their fellow Veterans and the nation, fuels VA’s legacy of innovation.”