Dr. Steven Kahn is the chief of burn surgery at MUSC and has a strong background in the comprehensive care of the burn patient. He is regarded as an expert and a national leader in the field. Kahn is board certified in both general surgery and surgical critical care. He has completed fellowships in burn surgery, critical care, and trauma/acute care surgery.
Dr. Kahn has provided care to thousands of burn patients and has performed over 2000 operations to treat burn injury (including but not limited to skin grafts, skin substitutes, skin flaps, and regenerative medicine techniques). Burn surgeons take care of patients in the emergency room, outpatient/clinic setting, inpatient wards, and the ICU. They address, pain, nutrition, and burn wounds/scars. Equally important, there is a focus on preventing and treating the emotional scars from an injury. Dr. Kahn has also been a leader in developing minimally invasive burn treatments along with paradigms for enhanced recovery after burn injury.
Kahn's main research interests are centered around firefighter safety, burn resuscitation, smoke inhalation injury, non-opiate methods of pain control, wound healing, regenerative medicine, and burn reconstruction. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and has received several research awards for his work. He speaks internationally regarding these topics.
He is an advocate for firefighter safety and serves medical advisor for state and international firefighters' associations and has participated in the development of FEMA-funded firefighter safety programs such as "It Happened in Seconds," regarding situational awareness, gear limitations, and burn injury awareness.
Before moving to Charleston to develop MUSC's South Carolina Burn Center, Kahn received the Nashville Business Journal "Healthcare Heroes" Award in 2015 for his work regarding firefighter safety, followed by the Mobile Bay "40 Under 40 Award" in 2016.