Alexander Lorenzo Colonna
( out of 24 reviews )

Alexander Lorenzo Colonna, MD, MSCI, FACS

Languages spoken: English, French

Clinical Locations

University of Utah Hospital

General Surgery, Area E
Salt Lake City
801-585-7403

  • Dr. Colonna specializes in Acute Care Surgery which is composed of Trauma Surgery, Emergency General Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care. His clinical practice includes the University Hospital SICU and the University Trauma and Emergency Surgery (UTES) service. Dr. Colonna also has a General Surgery Clinic focused on basic general surgical pathology with a special interest in complex abdominal wall hernias. He is originally from South Carolina and completed his General Surgery Residency at East Tennessee State University. He went on to complete Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowships at Wake Forest University. After a brief detour in private practice, Dr. Colonna joined the faculty at the University of Utah in 2012. Dr. Colonna has been Army Reservist since 2003 and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He has completed multiple deployments to the Middle East to serve as a trauma surgeon taking care of the combat wounded, most recently to Iraq in 2023-2024 where he served as Trauma Medical Director for Operation Inherent Resolve. Dr. Colonna has a focus on medical education, having previously directed the MS-3 and MS-4 surgery clerkships, and is the program director of the SCC/ACS fellowships. His research interests include cost-effectiveness analysis, educational research with a focus on simulation, and acute care surgery/trauma. Dr. Colonna is the inaugural Emergency Surgery Medical Director and is working toward EGS verification by the American College of Surgeons. Finally, he serves has the chair of the Utah State COT.

    Specialties

    Board Certification

    American Board of Surgery (Sub: General Surgery)
    American Board of Surgery (Sub: Surgical Critical Care)

    Patient Rating

    4.8 /5
    ( out of 24 reviews )

    The patient rating score is an average of all responses on our patient experience survey. The rating averages scores for all questions about care from our providers.

    The scale on which responses are measured is 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score.

    Patient Comments

    Patient comments are gathered from our patient experience survey and displayed in their entirety. For the convenience of our visitors, some patient comments have been translated from their original language into English while preserving their original meaning as accurately as possible. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

    February 23, 2025
    UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

    I would recommend him

    January 05, 2025
    UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

    Thank you for everything you did for me

    December 07, 2024
    UH HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

    He did an awesome job on my surgery and was a nice guy.

    May 24, 2024
    UH HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

    The Dr. was very kind, patient, a good listener, informative. The Dr. took the time patiently to answer all questions I asked so that by the time I left I was very comfortable with the diagnosis, prognosis, and followup schedule.

    October 12, 2023
    UH HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

    I found Dr. Collona to be my kind of doctor. Honest, casual yet competent.

    June 02, 2023
    UH HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

    This was my first visit, I don't know him. I don't have any complaints. He explained everything to me and I felt better after I left the clinic. The results was good news. Thank you for making my experience a good and successful visit.

  • Dr. Colonna specializes in Acute Care Surgery which is composed of Trauma Surgery, Emergency General Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care. His clinical practice includes the University Hospital SICU and the University Trauma and Emergency Surgery (UTES) service. Dr. Colonna also has a General Surgery Clinic focused on basic general surgical pathology with a special interest in complex abdominal wall hernias. He is originally from South Carolina and completed his General Surgery Residency at East Tennessee State University. He went on to complete Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowships at Wake Forest University. After a brief detour in private practice, Dr. Colonna joined the faculty at the University of Utah in 2012. Dr. Colonna has been Army Reservist since 2003 and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He has completed multiple deployments to the Middle East to serve as a trauma surgeon taking care of the combat wounded, most recently to Iraq in 2023-2024 where he served as Trauma Medical Director for Operation Inherent Resolve. Dr. Colonna has a focus on medical education, having previously directed the MS-3 and MS-4 surgery clerkships, and is the program director of the SCC/ACS fellowships. His research interests include cost-effectiveness analysis, educational research with a focus on simulation, and acute care surgery/trauma. Dr. Colonna is the inaugural Emergency Surgery Medical Director and is working toward EGS verification by the American College of Surgeons. Finally, he serves has the chair of the Utah State COT.

    Board Certification and Academic Information

    Academic Departments Surgery -Associate Professor (Clinical)
    Academic Divisions General Surgery
    Board Certification
    American Board of Surgery (Sub: General Surgery)
    American Board of Surgery (Sub: Surgical Critical Care)

    Education history

    Graduate Training University of Utah (Master of Science in Clinical Investigation) M.S.C.I
    Fellowship Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery - Wake Forest University, Department of Surgery Fellow
    Chief Resident Surgery - East Tennessee State University, Department of Surgery Chief Resident
    Residency Surgery - East Tennessee State University, Department of Surgery Resident
    Professional Medical Medicine - Medical University of South Carolina M.D.
    Undergraduate Major in History; Major in French Literature; Minor in Pre-Med - Emory University B.A.

    Selected Publications

    Journal Article

    1. Bleicher J, Lambert LA, Scaife, CL, Colonna AL, et al (). Understanding Current Management of Malignant Bowel Obstructions: A Survey of National Opinions. (Epub ahead of print) J Trauma Acute Care Surg.
    2. Colonna AL, Robbins R, Stefanucci J, Creem-Regeh S, Patterson B, Engel BT, Fischer A, Nirula R (2022). Trauma bay virtual reality-A game changer for ATLS instruction and assessment. J Trauma Acute Care Surg, 93(3), 353-359. (Read full article)
    3. Bleicher J, Lambert LA, Scaife CL, Colonna A (2021). Current management of malignant bowel obstructions: a survey of acute care surgeons and surgical oncologists. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open, 6(1), e000755. (Read full article)
    4. Senekjian L, Birkas Y, Buhavac M, Dayal S, Mukherjee K, Nygaard R, Pierce S, Buaza G, Sperry J, Eriksson E, Leon SM, Kopelman T, Spadafore P, Kopatsis A, Moore F, Taylor A, Colonna A, Enniss T, McCrum M, Nunez J, Young J, Nirula R (2020). Stop flailing: The impact of bicortically displaced rib fractures on pulmonary outcomes in patients with chest trauma - an American Association for the Surgery of Trauma multi-institutional study. J Trauma Acute Care Surg, 89(4), 658-664. (Read full article)
    5. Carlock TC, Barrett JR, Kalvelage JP, Young JB, Nunez JM, Colonna AL, Enniss TM, Nirula R, McCrum ML (2019). Telephone Follow-Up for Emergency General Surgery Procedures: Safety and Implication for Health Resource Use. J Am Coll Surg, 230(2), 228-236. (Read full article)
    6. Colonna AL, Bellows BK, Enniss TM, Young JB, McCrum M, Nunez JM, Nirula R, Nelson RE (2020). Reducing the pain: A cost-effectiveness analysis of transversus abdominis plane block using liposomal bupivacaine for outpatient laparoscopic ventral hernia repair. 2(2), 75-80.
    7. Colonna AL, Bellows BK, Enniss TM, Young JB, McCrum M, Nunez JM, Nirula R, Nelson RE (2020). Reducing the pain: A cost-effectiveness analysis of transversus abdominis plane block using liposomal bupivacaine for outpatient laparoscopic ventral hernia repair. Surg Open Sci, 2(2), 75-80. (Read full article)
    8. Colonna AL, Griffiths TM, Robison DC, Enniss TM, Young JB, McCrum ML, Nunez JM, Nirula R, Hardman RL (2019). Cholecystostomy: Are we using it correctly? Am J Surg, 217(6), 1010-1015. (Read full article)
    9. Byrge N, Heilbrun M, Winkler N, Sommers D, Evans H, Cattin LM, Scalea T, Stein DM, Neideen T, Walsh P, Sims CA, Brahmbhatt TS, Galante JM, Phan HH, Malhotra A, Stovall RT, Jurkovich GJ, Coimbra R, Berndtson AE, OCallaghan TA, Gaspard SF, Schreiber MA, Cook MR, Demetriades D, Rivera O, Velmahos GC, Zhao T, Park PK, Machado-Aranda D, Ahmad S, Lewis J, Hoff WS, Suleiman G, Sperry J, Zolin S, Carrick MM, Mallory GR, Nunez J, Colonna A, Enniss T, Nirula R (2018). An AAST-MITC analysis of pancreatic trauma: Staple or sew? Resect or drain? J Trauma Acute Care Surg, 85(3), 435-443. (Read full article)
    10. Colonna AL, Byrge NR, Nelson SD, Nelson RE, Hunter MC, Nirula R (2016). Nonoperative management of adhesive small bowel obstruction: what is the break point? Am J Surg, 212(6), 1214-1221. (Read full article)
    11. Becher RD, Colonna AL, Enniss TM, Weaver AA, Crane DK, Martin RS, Mowery NT, Miller PR, Stitzel JD, Hoth JJ (2012). An innovative approach to predict the development of adult respiratory distress syndrome in patients with blunt trauma. J Trauma Acute Care Surg, 73(5), 1229-35. (Read full article)

    Book Chapter

    1. Irma Fleming, Joanna Grudziak, Alexander L Colonna (2023). Surgical Infections of Skin and Soft Tissue Chapter 291. In E. Christopher Ellison, Gilbert R. Upchurch, Jr. (Eds.), Fischer's Mastery of Surgery (Eight Edition, 2, pp. 2733-2739). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.
    2. Alexander Colonna, Tyler Pender, Anthony Bacon et al (2021). Preoperative Evaluation and Decision Making. When to Operate and By Which Approach: Tube Cholecystostomy. In DI CARLO, Isidoro (Eds.), Difficult Acute Cholecystitis - Treatment and technical issue (1st Edition, p. 174). Switzerland: Springer.
    3. Bradley Kuhn, Alexander Colonna (2018). Spine Fracture SCORE Module. In SCORE. www.surgicalcore.org.
    4. Duletzke, N Colonna, AL (2017). Inguinal and Femoral Hernia- Repair. In Surgical Council on Resident Education - SCORE learning module.
    5. Colonna A, Volckmann ES, Young J, Wayne Meredith JA, Neumayer LT, Berger ER (2017). General Surgery. In Hoyt DB, Ko CY (Eds.), Optimal Resources for Surgical Quality and Safety (p. 4). American College of Surgeons.
    6. Colonna AL, Meredith JW, Mowery, NT (2011). Myocardial Contusion. In Hall JB, Vincent JL (Eds.). Springer, Berlin: Encyclopedia of Intensive Care Medicine.
    7. Colonna A, Meredith JW (2011). American College of Surgeons Resouces Document. In Hall JB, Vincent JL (Eds.). Springer, Berlin: Encyclopedia of Intensive Care Medicine.

    Letter

    1. Colonna AL, Enniss TM, Meredith JW, Hildreth AN (2010). Celiac artery avulsion and right atrial rupture after blunt multisystem trauma. [Letter to the editor]. Am Surg, 76(7), E83-5. (Read full article)