For Trauma Surgeon Paula Ferrada, Leadership is a Matter of Life and Death

As Chair of Surgery at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Dr. Paula Ferrada (TEP ’25) knows what it means to lead in high-stakes environments. A nationally recognized trauma surgeon, Ferrada thrives under pressure, drawn to solving serious problems and making quick decisions that can mean the difference between life and death.

“There’s no better feeling,” she says, than working alongside a team to help a patient.

But after more than a decade as a surgeon, researcher, professor and mentor, she’s turned her focus to what she believes is a “critical gap” in healthcare: leadership.

The Executive Program of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business provided her key tools to further close that gap.

Dr. Paula Ferrada is a trauma surgeon, researcher, professor and mentor. She currently serves as the Chair of Surgery at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus.

Learning to Lead on the Fly

“When you’re a surgeon, you’re the leader of the team,” Ferrada says. “Whether you rise to the moment or fall short, you’re the one steering the ship.”

Yet despite the gravity of that responsibility, most medical professionals are never formally taught how to lead. And that gap, she says, isn’t just a missed opportunity —It’s a risk to morale, to performance, and ultimately, to patient lives.

“In the OR, it’s sink or swim — and someone’s life is in your hands,” she adds. “Leadership isn’t just about budgets or benchmarks. It’s about showing up with courage, clarity and conviction when it matters most.”

Determined to change the status quo, Ferrada sought leadership training the same way she pursued clinical excellence — with urgency and purpose. She joined national boards, mentored the next generation of physicians, and immersed herself in the dynamics of healthcare systems. Today, in addition to her surgical leadership roles, she proudly serves as a Professor of Medical Education at the University of Virginia, helping to prepare tomorrow’s doctors not just to heal, but to lead.

Making Systemic Change

For Ferrada, her work as a surgeon, researcher, professor and leader all reinforce each other. For change to happen, she says, “You have to be in a place where you are heard, understood and believed.” It all works together to make an impact on a larger scale than the individual patient in front of her in the operating room.

That perspective fueled Ferrada’s efforts to reform a long-standing trauma resuscitation protocol. For decades, clinicians followed the “ABC” sequence — Airway, Breathing, Circulation — when treating trauma patients. But in practice, Ferrada and other frontline experts saw better outcomes when circulation was prioritized first.

Changing the standard would require more than anecdotal experience. Over 10 years, Ferrada conducted studies, gathered data, published findings and taught students and peers. Eventually, the standard changed — saving lives as a result.

“Credibility follows authenticity, hard work, expertise and data,” she said.

Her experience navigating that change — while also confronting the additional hurdles faced by women and minorities in medicine — inspired Ferrada to pay it forward through mentorship. She sees leadership and mentorship as one and the same.

“Education is not only about information,” she says. “It’s about freedom. And mentoring is how we build a more just and compassionate future.”

Running Toward Trouble

For Ferrada, running toward the fire has never been a choice — it’s who she is. Born in Colombia during a time of intense cartel violence, she grew up in a world where resilience wasn’t optional. Her parents both worked in healthcare, and her father, like many surgeons of that era, was also a trauma surgeon. By the age of 12, she was already observing in the operating room, captivated by the urgency, purpose and the humanity of that environment.

“I loved it,” she recalls. “In life, there are those who run from trouble, and those who run toward it. I’ve always known which one I am.”

But medicine wasn’t her only passion. As a young woman, Ferrada explored acting, winning the Miss Belleza Juvenil beauty pageant and becoming a TV host and comedy actress. While she ultimately chose the scalpel over the stage, she believes her time in the arts was essential to the kind of leader she would become.

“In improv, you can’t shut things down — you have to say ‘yes, and.’ That mindset helped me approach problems with curiosity instead of judgment,” she says. “Being on stage taught me how to connect, how to feel, how to lead with vulnerability. Those are the same skills that make you not just a better doctor, but a better human.”

Dr. Paula Ferrada (front row center) with the The Executive Program class of 2025 at Darden.

Culture and Strategy

Teaching leadership at a larger scale has been on her mind, so she jumped at the offer from Inova’s executive team to attend The Executive Program (TEP) at the UVA Darden School of Business. Though a little intimidated at first, wondering if the others in her cohort would know more about finance or strategy, she was delighted to learn that the TEP classroom applied across disciplines. She came away even more convinced of the value of space where leaders from diverse disciplines can learn from each other.

One big takeaway, she said, is that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” While discussing business cases during TEP, “I saw it every day. The cases where there was transformational leadership were where they focused on culture and inclusion.”

Transforming Systems Through Trust and Collaboration

She took those lessons back with her to work. At Inova, Ferrada had already begun working to transform relationships between surgeons, nurses and administrators. TEP gave her new tools to refine her approach. She partnered with her teams to implement systems that emphasized real-time feedback, intentional communication and mutual trust.

The results have been tangible. On-time starts for cases reached the highest rate in over a decade. Team members report feeling more heard and supported. Miscommunication has declined, and collaboration has improved. It all adds up to better experiences and outcomes for patients.

“TEP is not only for people in business and administration,” says Ferrada. “It helped us build a community with other leaders who are asking the same hard questions, like how do we heal broken systems?”  Ferrada says that a community of cross-disciplinary leaders who have your back can make all the difference. “I think Darden gave us all the tools, and more importantly, the courage to pursue the answers to those questions.”