University of Cincinnati Medical Center Cincinnati C-STARS (Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills) is a joint program between University of Cincinnati Medical Center and the Air Force offering training for military medical personnel in the areas of trauma and critical care.

The third program of its kind in the nation, C-STARS was created to enable Air Force health care providers to sustain their skills by being fully integrated with their civilian colleagues treating trauma and critical care patients. University of Cincinnati Medical Center was chosen to sponsor C-STARS thanks to its national reputation as a teaching hospital and the high volume of trauma and critical care patients treated each year. The embedded Air Force members serve as instructors for the 2- week Critical Care Air Transport Team Advanced Course that is conducted on site. Active duty, Guard, and Reserve military personnel undergo this training and validation course which is offered at least 16 times per year to obtain and maintain their ability to perform on these elite highly trained teams.

Accepting HJF's Hero of Military Medicine Ambassador Award on behalf of the C-STARS Cincinnati: 

Colonel Valerie Sams serves as Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCAT) Training cadre and Director, Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS) Cincinnati.

Col Sams is from Georgetown, KY and was commissioned in 2000 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Kentucky after completing her Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry at Eastern Kentucky University. She entered active duty and served as a supply officer at Eglin AFB from 2000-2005 as OIC Combat Support Element, OIC Readiness Element, Fuels Flight Comman­ der, and Chief of Commander's Action Group. She completed her technical school in Supply at Lackland AFB in 2001 and completed her Masters of Public Administration from Troy State Univer­ sity in 2001. Col Sams then completed a temporary duty assignment at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio working for the Air Force Petroleum Agency. Following that assignment, she deployed in support of Stabilizations Forces for the Balkans as the Region Commander for Defense Energy Support Center from December 2002-May 2003 before returning to Eglin AFB. She transitioned to the IMA program in September 2003 and matriculated to medical school in January of 2004, graduating with her medical degree in May 2008 from St George's University School of Medicine. As an IMA, she left Eglin in 2006 and went to work for the Air Force Petroleum Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va. and then for the Defense Energy Support Center East in Houston, Texas from 2008 to 2010 as a logistics officer.

Col Sams completed her General Surgery Residency at University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn. in 2013. She was then accepted for Trauma Critical Care fellowship at Brooke Army Medical Center where she graduated in 2015 and remained as a staff surgeon and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation physician. Following completion of her training, she deployed as the Trauma Czar for Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan from October 2015-April 2016. She returned from deployment and assumed the role of General Surgery Element Leader and then as General Surgery and Radiology Flight Commander and the Associate Program Director for the Acute Care Surgery Fellowship until 2018 when she deployed a second time as the Trauma Czar in Bagram. She returned to serve as the Trauma Division research director and Performance Improvement director in addition to the 59th Medical Wing Science and Technology Division's Surgical and Technological Advancement for Traumatic Injuries in Combat research program director, and Ground Surgical Team Pilot Unit Leader. She assumed the role of Trauma Medical Director and Assistant Chief of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care in September 2019 and served in this role until June 2022.