BY ALEXANDRA ZABJEK | NOVEMBER 1, 2021
photography by Curtis Trent
Dr. Marc Curial
Emergency Physician, Misericordia Community Hospital
Age 36
When Marc Curial was five, he split his head open in a trampoline accident. The attending physician used a surgical needle and thread to stitch up the wound, and Curial saw how a simple medical procedure could prevent further harm.
Fast forward 30 years and Curial is an ER doctor at the Misericordia Community Hospital, where he still uses relatively low-tech procedures to help people in distress. There’s beauty and excitement in that, Curial says.
“I still get a bit giddy when I have a good laceration or something gnarly to try to fix. I like that instant gratification of emergency medicine.”
Curial is taking that philosophy even further with his company, MACH32, which he co-founded in 2019 with childhood friend Chris Terriff. The company aims to develop simple, practical solutions to help save lives. MACH32 is working on an “EpiPen for trauma,” which would allow civilian first responders to deliver a potentially life-saving drug to people who have suffered extreme trauma, like victims of an ATV crash or a shooting.
Curial calls Terriff a great friend and a perfect business partner.
“I’m a big picture, trust-your-gut type of personality. Chris is ridiculously detail-oriented. I’ll bring the energy, emotion and the medical knowledge and Chris says, ‘That’s great. Let’s make a budget.’”
Back in the ER where Curial spends much of his time, it hasn’t been an easy year for anyone. But Curial says that when doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and others work together, they truly make a difference — the core parts of a life-saving machine that works to save lives.