Kimball I. Naull, chairman of the surgery department at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, today was named director of the University of Maryland Shock-Trauma Unit and head of Maryland's emergency medical services program.

Naull, 49, replaces James P.G. Flynn, who has served as Shock-Trauma director since March 1990, when he agreed to serve for a two-year term.

Naull is regarded as an expert on trauma care and trauma systems development and is immediate past vice chairman of the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma.

In the face of budget and program cutbacks, Naull said today in prepared remarks, "The challenge is just as great now to maintain excellence in the clinical programs while expanding efforts in injury prevention, research, and . . . education."

Naull will begin his new duties Feb. 10.

The Shock-Trauma Unit, known formerly as R Adams Cowley M.D. Shock Trauma Center, is part of the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services Systems.

Naull took over the surgery program at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in 1983. At that time, the program had lost its accreditation. By 1985, its accreditation had been restored and its program was expanded further in 1989.

In 1988, it was approved by the American College of Surgeons as an adult and pediatric Level 1 trauma center, the first in the country to combine both adult and pediatric care.