Holly Waller.After more than three decades of unwavering service and leadership in trauma care, Holly Waller, RN, BSN, MPH, NE-BC, has been named a recipient of the UAB VIP Award, a recognition reserved for those who exemplify the values, integrity, and performance that define excellence at UAB.
Waller currently serves as the Senior Director of Trauma, Burn, and Inpatient Wound Services at UAB Hospital, where she oversees a multidisciplinary team of over 100 employees. Over the past 33 years, her contributions have helped shape UAB into one of the most respected trauma centers in the country.
A legacy of lifesaving leadership
As a young nurse in the 1990s, Holly found her passion for trauma care as she was exposed to some of the most badly injured patients in Alabama. She served as a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) staff nurse as well as a flight nurse with Critical Care Transportation and worked her way up to Care Manager and then her current role, which she has served in for 19 years.
During her time as a leader, she has successfully maintained ACS verification as a Level I trauma center – ensuring a 26-year-long continuous verification. Just this year, UAB was reverified by the ACS for another three years. This distiction is reserved for the most robust and extensive trauma centers that have advanced capabilities and access to various specialists. In addition to maintaining verification, she has helped facilitate the seamless expansion of the trauma program from evaluating 1,200 patients a year to nearly 6,500 a year.
She also oversees a trauma quality program at UAB that consistently ranks in the top decile with regard to mortality outcomes for trauma patients when benchmarked against other centers across the country through the ACS Trauma Quality Improvement Program.
Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, has worked with Waller for over 25 years. He says Waller has been an indispensable part of the success of the UAB Trauma program.
“There simply isn’t a UAB Trauma program the way it is today without Holly Waller,” Kerby said. “In every aspect of her career, from bedside nurse to now leader, Holly has shown unwavering commitment to providing the best care possible to trauma and burn patients.”
Dr. Jeffrey Kerby, Kelly Sheils, Holly Waller, Dr. Daniel Cox, and Dr. Sabrina Goddard.
Waller recently worked closely with Kerby and Trauma Medical Director Daniel Cox, M.D., to strategically redesign the trauma service by increasing advanced practice provider (APP) support from eight to 40 mid-level providers. She also worked with Samuel Windham, M.D., and Jonathan Black, M.D., to increase APP support in the SICU. These changes have led to more patients being cared for and reduced length of stay. Because of this increase in efficiency, the community, and the state of Alabama as a whole, can be assured of access to trauma services on a 24/7/365 basis.
Under Waller’s guidance, burn and wound services at UAB have expanded their teams and resources. For example, the wound ostomy, and continence (WOC) team led by Marty Vandernoot, M.D., expanded from a team of four to a team of 18, and just this year, the UAB WOC team was recognized at a national level for their excellence by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing Certification Board.
“Providing robust, multidisciplinary trauma, burn, and wound care at UAB didn’t happen overnight,” Cox said. “As an excellent collaborator, Holly led the development of these services and equipped these teams to continuously improve.”
Waller’s impact extends beyond medical care. Waller was instrumental in launching the Trauma Survivors Network at UAB, which supports long-term recovery through peer mentorship and support groups, and hosts an annual Heroes and Healers event to celebrate trauma survivors, first responders, and healthcare professionals.
Outside the walls of UAB
A true trauma professional, Waller knows caring for the people of Alabama means meeting them where they are, outside the hospital walls, before injury occurs. Waller has been a tireless community collaborator and advocate for over two decades. She has spearheaded wide-reaching injury prevention initiatives from driver awareness training for teens to fall prevention programs for seniors. She hired an injury prevention coordinator and has developed fall prevention training, addressing prevention activities for a growing population of elderly trauma patients being seen at UAB. Waller also hired a dedicated psychiatric social worker who performs mental health and PTSD screenings and who refers patients to specialized support.
Waller has personally gone to most of the major school systems throughout the Birmingham area and beyond to facilitate Stop the Bleed training, which empowers bystanders to stop bleeding and save lives by teaching techniques like applying pressure and tourniquets. These trainings preparing educators and students alike for emergency scenarios. She successfully raised funds to place Stop the Bleed kits in every classroom in area schools - ensuring in the case of a mass shooting event, schools will be prepared with tourniquets and the know-how to use them. In 2017, during a Stop the Bleed training at a church in Homewood, she struck up a conversation with a minister. She explained her goal to have a kit in every classroom, because just one kit in a central office would not be helpful during a school lockdown. This resulted in the minister donating a kit to every classroom in Homewood.
In 2022, Holly’s leadership was instrumental in the multi-agency collaboration resulting in the hospital-based Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (VIP²,). She represented UAB Hospital as she worked with the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office, the Jefferson County Department of Public Health, and the Offender Alumni Association on the development of this program.
Waller has also played a key role in fostering UAB’s unique military-civilian partnerships. She facilitated the integration of four Special Operations Surgical Teams embedded at UAB - nearly 30 full time personnel. She also helped facilitate the USAF Pararescue Jumper Trauma Skills retention program started in 2006. This has now expanded into the Special Operations Center for Military Integration and Development which trains over 200 military personnel yearly through a collaboration with UAB.
A heart for patients
One example of Waller’s servant leadership came during the infamous 2014 Birmingham snowstorm. As roads shut down and staff were stranded at the hospital, Waller stayed overnight with her team, ensuring trauma registrars and other non-clinical staff were redeployed to support patient care wherever needed.
Waller is known for a unique gift: she regularly connects former patients with current patients who have suffered similar injuries, like traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), amputations, and burns, leading to the start of lifelong friendships. For example, she connected two families with young sons who were seriously affected by TBIs - the Pope family and the Burton family. The Burtons were able to provide support, wisdom, and resources that were hard won in their own recovery journey to the Pope family.
“Holly has respect for all people and a special place in her heart for patients, and that compassion impacts every decision she makes,” said Kelly Sheils, the manager of Quality Services for Trauma and Burn Services who has worked alongside Waller for over 20 years.
“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this award,” Kerby said. “Holly’s commitment to excellence has created a lasting legacy of high quality and compassionate care for our trauma program.”
As for Waller, she says the VIP Award reflects not just herself - but an entire team that lives out the values of integrity, respect, collaboration, and excellence in their mission to care for the most severely injured of Alabama.
"Being just one of many to care for UAB's trauma patients has been the honor of a lifetime," Waller said. "I'm extremely grateful to receive this award, and to have been able to play a role in the growth and success of a division which provides lifesaving, lifechanging care every single day."