Honoring Dr. Paul Silverstein

For more than 40 years Dr. Paul Silverstein invested his expertise into the creation, growth and sustainability of the INTEGRIS Paul Silverstein Burn Center. Since its opening, the burn center has expanded to become one of the largest adult burn centers in the United States having treated more than 20,000 in patients and another 100,000 outpatients. It is a 45-year legacy of compassion and leadership, and a true testament to the vision of Dr. Silverstein, physicians, caregivers, hospital administrators and concerned business leaders.

While a major in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1972, Silverstein served at the prestigious U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. There, he cared for and performed research for the benefit of military burn victims from the Vietnam conflict, other veterans, Native Americans, Eskimos, and their families. It was an experience that drove him to find ways to treat and care for perhaps the most painful and devastating injury people ever suffer.

Burn centers are notoriously known as costly ventures. But Baptist Medical Center’s leaders saw the clear need for a metro-area burn treatment facility in the early 1970s. Following recruitment of Dr. Silverstein, the group realized they needed private funding to kickstart their efforts. 

The Kerr Foundation gave a jumpstart to the effort to found a burn center in Oklahoma City by contributing $100,000, if a matching amount could be raised. Burn centers have always been known as a costly venture. But Baptist Medical Center’s leaders, among them former CEO Jay Henry and plastic surgeon Ed Dalton, M.D., saw the clear need for a metro area burn treatment facility. They persisted, raising the money needed to remodel an existing patient care floor at Baptist Medical Center. The new burn center opened in November 1975 as the hospital’s first Center of Excellence, with a commitment to patient care, research, teaching and burn prevention.

In 1989, the burn center expanded to include hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In 1995, an additional 12-place hyperbaric chamber (the largest in Oklahoma) was installed and a separate Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Care Center was established side-by-side with the burn center. In 2000, the board of directors honored Silverstein’s commitment and legacy to the treatment of burn patients by renaming the facility, the Paul Silverstein Burn Center.

Today, the Paul Silverstein Burn Center at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center is known across the nation as a center of excellence with a dedicated staff of doctors, nurses and paramedical personnel committed to life beyond survival. “Our goal is to rehabilitate a patient, not just save a life,” affirmed Silverstein. “If a patient leaves here a whole person and a productive member of society, then we have accomplished our goal. The mission of the INTEGRIS Paul Silverstein Burn Center is not only to save lives, but to reach "beyond survival," improving the patient's quality of life by returning him or her to a maximum level of function and activity in society. 

Beyond the legacy of patient care, Dr. Silverstein made history again in 2018 when he and his wife, Dr. Amalia Miranda-Silverstein, chose to make a transformational $1 million gift to kickstart efforts for a permanent endowment benefitting the burn center forever. This is the largest physician gift in INTEGRIS history. Dr. Paul Silverstein committed his life to the care of individuals who suffered the most painful and debilitating injuries. He treated them and he cared about them and their families. And in retirement, he committed his time to raise $5 million toward the burn endowment ensuring the long-term care of his beloved patients forever. This burn center is his legacy, and we are deeply honored for the longstanding impact Dr. Silverstein made at INTEGRIS benefitting countless Oklahomans.