Prior to joining the Georgia Trauma Commission, Elizabeth “Liz” Atkins most recently served as Executive Director of Trauma and Burn Services at Grady Memorial Hospital an ACS verified Level I trauma center and ABA verified Burn Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She has over 31 years of progressive clinical leadership experience in pediatric and adult trauma, cardiac, critical care and flight nursing. Liz earned an associate degree in nursing from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and has practiced critical care nursing along the east coast before moving to the Atlanta area in 2005. Liz is a graduate of the Duke University master’s program in nursing and healthcare leadership. Her work at Duke has led to the development of a novel approach to statewide trauma center performance evaluation which has been put into practice within the Georgia Trauma System. She served as the 2017 Finance Fellow for the Trauma Center Association of America (TCAA) completing a chapter on trauma center programmatic staffing for the TCAA Finance Manual.

Liz is active in state and national organizations serving as Chair of the Georgia Committee for Trauma Excellence, Editorial Board member for the Journal of Trauma Nursing, Past Chair for Society of Trauma Nurses (STN) Annual Conference Committee, STN Liaison to the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Education Pillar, TCAA Trauma Systems Committee and LifeLink Georgia Advisory Board. She serves as an accreditation site reviewer for the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation. As an active educator, Liz is a nationally recognized speaker on trauma quality improvement, trauma quality collaboratives, trauma center leadership and trauma data quality management. She is faculty and course director for Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN) and the TCAA Trauma Medical Director Course. Liz has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications on a variety of trauma-related topics including trauma clinical care, trauma systems, finance, and injury prevention.

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