Stephen S. Luk, M.D., is a Full Professor in the Department of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in emergency general surgery, trauma, critical care, complex wound care management and surgical education.

Dr. Luk earned his medical degree from the Texas A&M College of Medicine. He completed an internship in general surgery at Baylor Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas. Additional training was completed at Polyclinic Medical Center in Harrisburg, Penn., and an integrated surgery residency at the University of Connecticut. He received advanced training in trauma surgery and surgical critical care through a fellowship at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn., where he completed an aeromedical and trauma/surgical critical care fellowship.

Double board certified by the American Board of Surgery in general surgery and surgical critical care he joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2009.

Dr. Luk is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American College of Chest Physicians, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and a member of the prestigious and exclusive ACS Master Surgeon Educators. He is the past Chair of the American College of Surgeons North Texas Chapter Committee on Trauma, where he led surgical education and research through ACS courses and scientific paper competitions. He has been a site reviewer for the American College of Surgeons Education Committee and a consultant for the group’s Committee on Trauma Surgical Skills.

Dr. Luk has delivered scores of presentations, published various academic articles and book chapters, and co-edited the book Advanced Trauma Operative Management: Surgical Strategies for Penetrating Trauma. He has traveled extensively nationally and internationally, delivering talks on acute care surgery, and teaching operative techniques in penetrating trauma. He has also developed and participated in developing the ATOM, ASSET, and DMEP courses and teaching hundreds of courses and learners. After development, all these courses are currently offered at the American College of Surgeons. He has developed and implemented multiple quality improvement initiatives and clinical pathways to streamline patient flow through the hospital following surgery and provide improved patient education and follow-up visits. He recently served as the ACS NSQIP surgeon champion at Clements University Hospital. 

He earned the Hartford Hospital Medical Staff Humanitarian Award and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Outstanding Achievement in Student Teaching Award. He has been twice nominated as the Advance Practice Provider Medical Director of the Year at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Luk currently serves as the Medical Director of the Willed Body Program at UTSW and the Comprehensive Wound Care Center Medical Director. Previous leadership was as the interim Medical Director of Trauma Services at The Rees-Jones Trauma Center and director of Emergency General Surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital.