Dr. Coimbra was previously Director of Surgical Critical Care at UCSD Medical Center and has more than 16 years of experience as a trauma surgeon and in the care of critically ill ICU patients. Dr. Coimbra has developed into a national leader in trauma surgery during his tenure here at UCSD. Dr. Coimbra is now serving as a Chairman of the Medical Audit Committee, which is the mechanism to perform quality assurance countywide in trauma.

Dr. Coimbra’s goal is to work with nurses, nutritionists, respiratory therapists, physicians, and other ancillary personnel to make the SICU a strong quality program.

In 2004, Dr. Coimbra was elected to the UCSD Academy of Clinician Scholars, which supports clinical excellence by UCSD faculty. In addition to his busy clinical practice, Dr. Coimbra is a respected educator and has twice received the Nicholas Halasz Teaching Award from the UCSD Department of Surgery, once in 2001 and again in 2005. He has also been Chairman of the Education Committee for the Pan-American Trauma Society since 2002. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the American College of Surgeons San Diego/Imperial Valley Committee on Trauma and is also a Council Member and Vice President of the San Diego Surgical Society.

As a productive clinician scientist, Dr. Coimbra has more than 220 publications to his credit. He is on the Editorial Board of the Pan-American Journal of Trauma and he is an ad-hoc reviewer of scientific articles for the Journal of Trauma, Critical Care Medicine, International Pharmacology, Experimental Biology and Medicine, to cite a few.

His numerous professional activities include being a member of the Committee on Trauma for the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Shock Society, and serving as Chairman of the Scientific and Organization Committee for the 16th Annual California Trauma Conference in 2006.