Mark R. Sochor

Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Emergency Medicine Vice Chair for Research Department of Emergency Medicine Medical Director, Center for Applied Biomechanics
Google Scholar ResearchGate

About

Dr. Mark Sochor is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Virginia. Dr. Sochor is a clinically active emergency medicine physician and the medical director at the Center for Applied Biomechanics. In addition, he is the director of the Center for Engineering-in-Medicine and holds numerous other adminstrative posts within UVA.  He currently conducts post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) testing, including test setup, subject instrumentation and post-impact autopsies.  Dr. Sochor has been PI or Co-PI on several grants which address issues related to motor vehicle safety as well as human response to blunt trauma.

Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Sochor was a biomechanical safety engineer who developed vehicle occupant safety systems (airbag, instrument panel, and steering column) with the Chrysler Corporation. Dr. Sochor holds a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Biomechanical Engineering and has published numerous articles on impact biomechanics as it relates to the head, c-spine, chest, abdomen (pregnancy), pelvis and extremities.  As the University of Michigan Program for Injury Research and Education (UMPIRE) Injury Research Fellow, Dr. Sochor trained numerous engineers from industry in anatomy and injury causation.

Dr. Sochor's unique qualifications as an occupant safety engineer, former CIREN team member, and physician enable him to see the entire spectrum of the disease of trauma.   Dr. Sochor is a former co-editor for the Journal of Traffic Injury and Prevention and current reviewer for both the American Journal of Emergency Medicine and the Society of Automotive Engineers. Dr. Sochor is currently the Chair of the AAAM AIS committee.  and in addition currently sits/or has sat on the boards of the American Trauma Society, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, Virginia College of Emergency Physicians (past president), and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles medical board.   Dr. Sochor is recognized as a national leader in the research of traumatic injuries.

Education

MD, Doctor of Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine

MS, Mechanical Engineering, Wayne State University

BS, Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University

Research Interests

Injury biomechanics – Head, C-Spine, Chest, Abdomen and Pelvis and extremities
Occupant Kinematics
Pedestrian Injury
Experimental embalming techniques (soft embalming for medical and surgical education)
Post mortem human subject training techniques for life saving procedures
Anatomical injury scaling
Real-world investigation of crashes and injury mechanisms
Characterization of biological materials and structures
Impact biomechanics for surgical training

Selected Publications

GLass Intact Assures Safe Cervical Spine Protocol. The Journal of Emergency Medicine. [Journal of Emergency Medicine -D-11-00579R2]
Mutually Undesired Computed Tomography for Patients with Blunt Trauma: I Don’t Want It. You Don’t Want It. Who Does Want It? Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2012; 60(2): 244-245.
BioTab—A New Method for Analyzing and Documenting Injury Causation in Motor-Vehicle Crashes. Traffic Injury Prevention. 2011; 12(3), 256-265.
National Survey of Emergency Department Alcohol Screening and Intervention Practices. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2010; 55(6): 556-562.
Postmortem Computed Tomography As An Adjunct To Autopsy For Analyzing Fatal Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries: Results Of A Pilot Study. Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection and Critical Care. 2008; 65(3): 659-665.

Awards

President, Virginia College of Emergency Physicians
Chair, Training and Certification Committee – Association for Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)
Young Achiever Award – AAAM
AJ Merkin Service Award – AAAM
American College of Emergency Physicians – Hero of Emergency Medicine
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Medical Advisory Board