[4][5] He interned under J. Englebert Dunphy at the University of Oregon Medical School, who became his mentor and turned his focus to surgery.
[7][1] As a UCSF faculty member, he was the leader of the trauma service at San Francisco General Hospital.
[14][15] "The critical moment in Don Trunkey's career was when he published a paper in 1979 on death rates of trauma patients in Orange County (Calif.), compared to those in San Francisco County," said Richard Mullins, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery.
"[16] Trunkey was, more than any other single person, responsible for the development of sophisticated, state-of-the-art trauma programs in the U.S.[17] In 2008 he received the King Faisal prize in medicine for his research improving trauma care.
[18] He has many other awards including Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Surgeons, Washington State University College of Science Distinguished Alumnus Award, Barry Goldwater Service Award, International Society of Surgery Prize, Honorary Membership of the British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine and Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Ireland, Edinburgh, Glasgow, South Africa and Brazil, Medal of the Royal College of Medicine of England and Honorary Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.