Principles
R. Richard (Rick) Coughlin, MD, MSc
Director
Richard Coughlin is a Clinical Professor of Orthopaedics in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at University of California, San Francisco. He works at San Francisco General Hospital, the county hospital for trauma and the indigent of the city and county of San Francisco. He has been a champion for overseas volunteerism and involvement since 1988 with the establishment of the orthopedic division of Operation Rainbow, a non-profit that offers free orthopedic surgery to children, with his private practice partner Taylor Smith. After joining the faculty at UCSF, he founded the first formal overseas rotation for orthopaedic surgery residents’ in the Transkei of South Africa in 1999. Dr. Coughlin completed his master’s degree in ‘Public Health in Developing Countries’ at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004. Dr. Coughlin was awarded the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Humanitarian of the Year Award, which is given to one surgeon world-wide annually, for care of disadvantaged populations both at home and abroad.
Richard Gosselin, MD, MSc, MPH, FRCS(C)
Co-Director
Richard Gosselin is a native of Montréal, Canada. He attended Collège André-Grasset for his undergraduate degree in Health Sciences. After graduating from college, he attended the University of Montréal Medical School, where he obtained his M.D. degree in 1979. He finished his Orthopaedic Surgery training at his medical school alma mater in 1984. Post residency, he completed a series of Orthopaedic Surgery fellowships: Musculoskeletal Infections in Senegal, Pelvis and Acetabular Surgery in Paris, and Orthopaedic Trauma at the San Francisco General Hospital-UCSF. He served as an Attending at SFGH from 1988-1991, and after pursued some international relief opportunities through the Red Cross. He later settled on his private practice in Merritt Island, FL where the focus of his clinical practice was Trauma and Joint Replacement. In 1999, he retired from his practice to pursue additional training as a public health scholar at the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health (MPH, 2001), and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MSc, 2002). Ever since, he has been a Lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. His hobbies include traveling, photography, reading, and wine tasting. He has worked in over 40 different developing countries.
Harry Jergesen, MD
Co-Director
Harry Jergesen graduated from Harvard College in 1968 and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1972. He completed two years of general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a residency in orthopaedic surgery in the Combined Harvard Orthopedic Residency Program. He was chief resident at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. In 1978, he was appointed assistant director of Rehabilitation Engineering Research and Development at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he served as chief of Orthopaedic Surgery till 2007. In addition to his work at the Veterans Hospital, Dr. Jergesen works as an attending arthroplasty surgeon in the UCSF Arthritis Center where he specializes in surgery of the hip and knee as well as at San Francisco General Hospital. In addition to participating in medical missions to Central and South America, he is active in the orthopaedic section of the UCSF Global Health Sciences Program, designed to promote academic ties with UCSF and medical schools in developing countries and in providing care in underserved areas in our country.
Amber Caldwell, BA
Director of Development
Amber Caldwell graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2004 with a Bachelor's Degree in Global and International Studies, emphasizing in Cultural Ideology and minored in Sports Medicine. She was an Athletic Trainer for the collegiate sports teams while an undergraduate and pursued combining her interests in the global health field working for non-profit health organizations. Amber joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF in 2006 as the Practice Coordinator for the Foot and Ankle Service. In 2008 Amber traveled to Mthatha, South Africa to work alongside IGOT’s colleagues at the Bedford Orthopaedic Hospital to launch an outreach education program for trauma assessment and fracture management. Upon returning from South Africa Amber joined the Orthopaedic Trauma Institute at SFGH as the Outreach Development Coordinator. She works alongside Dr. Theodore Miclau on reducing orthopaedic implant costs and expanding resident education within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. She is pursing a dual Master's Degree in Business Administration and Public Health and hopes to bring sustainability in healthcare and hospital infrastructure to developing countries.
Susan Jergesen, RN, MS
Health Education Coordinator
Susan Jergesen received her BA in Nursing from Simmons College and her MS in Community Health Nursing from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has worked as a Public Health Nurse in Boston and San Francisco with a primary focus on the supervision and education of Home Health Aides. A recent volunteering opportunity at The Hesperian Foundation sparked an interest in health education targeting low literate populations in developing countries. She is presently collaborating with the staff at Bedford Orthopedic Hospital in Mthatha, South Africa to develop culturally appropriate, accessible, low cost patient education materials that address orthopaedic and general health issues as well as accident prevention in children.
Executive Members
Theodore Miclau III, MD
Ted Miclau was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale College in 1984 and received his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine in 1988. He completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994. During his residency, he spent nearly one year at the world-renowned AO Research Institute in Davos, Switzerland studying fracture healing. The work resulted in two separate research awards given by the American Orthopaedic Association. After finishing an orthopaedic trauma fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in 1995, he was awarded the AO-Jack McDaniel fellowship, given to one U.S. orthopaedic residency graduate per year with an interest in orthopaedic trauma. During this fellowship, Dr. Miclau studied for several months in three prominent trauma centers in Europe: St. Gallen, Switzerland; Hannover, Germany; and Berlin, Germany.
In 1996, Dr. Miclau joined the faculty of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) as an orthopaedic traumatologist at the San Francisco General Hospital, (SFGH). In 2000, he received a five-year Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of angiogenesis in fracture repair. This was the first such award given to an orthopaedic surgeon in a decade. He also received the first-ever Career Development award from the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation. In 2001, Dr. Miclau received tenure at UCSF. Dr. Miclau was also the recipient of two prestigious traveling fellowships given by the American Orthopaedic Association to a handful of promising young academic orthopaedic surgeons: the North American Traveling Fellowship (1997; five-week tour of medical centers throughout the U.S. and Canada) and the American British Canadian Traveling Fellowship (2001; six-week tour of medical centers throughout the U.K. and South Africa).
In 2002, Dr. Miclau became the Acting Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at SFGH, and subsequently became the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at SFGH in 2004. He was also named Vice Chairman and Director of Orthopaedic Trauma of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF in 2003, and was named the Acting Chairmain of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2006. He serves on many local and national committees, editorial review boards and grant-review panels. Over a 5 year period, he was Chair of the Research Committee of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association. He has published over 75 research papers and 10 book chapters. He is an internationally recognized expert on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of bone regeneration and repair, locally applied antibiotics, and minimally-invasive fracture surgery.
Steve Pinney, MD
An expert in orthopaedics, Dr. Stephen Pinney specializes in foot and ankle surgery at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). His research interests include clinical problems related to the foot and ankle, as well as educational strategies for teaching patients, medical students and residents.
Pinney earned his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He completed his residency training in orthopedic surgery and a fellowship in sports medicine at the University of British Columbia. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship in foot and ankle surgery at the University of Washington's Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Pinney serves as course director for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' Course for Orthopaedic Educators. He has previously served as chairperson of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society's (AOFAS) Medical Training and Post-Graduate Education Committee.
Eric Meinburg, MD
Eric Meinberg has been an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF since 2008. His clinical interests include trauma and reconstructive surgery, including complex periarticular, pelvic, and periprosthetic fractures, and total joint replacement.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Meinberg received his bachelor’s degree in 1994 and his medical degree in 1997 through the University of Michigan’s Interflex Integrated PreMedical / Medical Training Program. Following an orthopaedic residency at the University of Cincinnati, he completed an orthopaedic traumatology fellowship at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. Subsequently, he joined the level-1 trauma center, WakeMed, in Raleigh, NC, and co-founded Wake Orthopaedics. While in North Carolina, Dr. Meinberg became involved with Cooperación Ortopédica Americano Nicargüense (COAN), a non-profit organization charged with teaching orthopaedic trauma to medical students and physicians in Nicaragua.
Saam Morshed, MD, MPH, Ph.D
Saam Morshed is a graduate of Harvard University (BA ’96), the UCSF School of Medicine (MD ’01), and the School of Public Health (MPH ’05) at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). He has international health and leadership experience in Latin America and the Middle East as a funded research fellow through UCSF and as a volunteer for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He received his Ph.D. in epidemiology at UCB and completed his Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship at the University of Washington's Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA. His interests include clinical outcomes research and global academic exchange relating to orthopaedics and traumatology.
Affiliate Members
James Oliver Johnston, MD
Dr. James Johnston received his M.D. and completed his residency training at the University of Michigan. Dr. Johnston spent 25 years as the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, California. Following his work at Kaiser Oakland, Dr. Johnston joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, full time, where he continued his work teaching orthopaedic residents and explored prosthetic research. After retiring from UCSF as a Professor Senate-Emeritus, Dr. Johnston now works part-time in musculoskeletal oncology at Kaiser South San Francisco.
Peter Trafton, MD
Dr. Peter Trafton is a Professor at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School / Rhode Island Hospital’s Division of Trauma. Educated at Yale and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Trafton completed his residency at UCSF, where he was later an Assistant Professor at San Francisco General Hospital. In 2005, Dr. Trafton retired from the position of Orthopaedic Trauma Chief and Director of the Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship at Rhode Island Hospital, and now teaches trauma courses around the globe. Dr. Trafton is a member of the Academic Council of the International AO-ASIF Foundation, a past president of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, and a volunteer with Orthopaedics Overseas, including a visit to Peru in 2006.
David Spiegel, MD
Dr. David Spiegel is an Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Following medical school and residency at Duke University, Dr. Spiegel began his affiliation with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a fellow, where he is currently a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon. Since 1996, his international work has centered around Nepal, where he is currently a consultant for the Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children. Dr. Spiegel is also Chairman for Orthopaedics in Underdeveloped Regions for the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, a member of Orthopaedics Overseas, Global-HELP, and is an advisor to the WHO. His research interests include spinal deformities, neuromuscular conditions, and developing orthopaedic educational programs for developing countries.
Col. James Ficke, MD
Col. James Ficke, M.D., is the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and the orthopaedic consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General. Col. Ficke received his M.D. from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, completed his residency at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, and was an AO trauma fellow in Munich, Germany. In 2006, Col. Ficke, an Iraqi War veteran, received the ‘A Designator’ for clinical proficiency—the Army equivalent to a full professorship. He is currently the Special Military Advisor to the Board of Directors for the Extremity War Trauma Research Foundation, and has co-chaired AAOS’ Extremity War Injury Symposium for the past three years.
Robert Detch, MD
Dr. Robert Detch, received his medical degree from New York University, and completed his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Detch spent the year immediately following residency as an orthopaedic staff surgeon at the Naval Health Clinic in Great Lakes, IL. Currently stationed with the U.S. Navy in Afghanistan, Dr. Detch serves as a mentor to Afghan surgeons at the Afghan National Military Hospital in Kabul.
Associate Members
Tom Penoyar, MD
Tom Penoyar received his MD from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) in 2009 and his MS and BS in mechanical engineering from Case University (Cleveland, OH) in 2004. His Masters thesis from Case was entitled The Effect of Cyclic Tensile Damage and Gamma Radiation Sterilization on the Mechanical Properties of Human Cortical Bone.
Tom spent a year away from academic studies between engineering and medical schools, during which he spent 4 months volunteering at an orphanage outside Rio de Janiero, Brasil, and 3 months at an emergency hospital in Baja California Sur, Mexico. He joined us in September 2009 and participated in a 3 month IGOT-sponsored internship at the World Health Organization in the fall of 2009. His primary research interests are in implant quality and providing basic surgery in low-resource settings. His hobbies include piano, peak bagging and whitewater paddling. Tom will begin his surgery residency training in July 2010.
Leonard Gordon, MD
Leonard Gordon has done humanitarian surgical missions over the past 7 years to Nicaragua, El Salvador,Trinidad and Ecuador. He also has experience with providing care in the rural areas of South Africa. Dr Gordon served as Chief of Hand Surgery at UCSF from 1980 to 1993 and was head of the training program for residents and fellows at UCSF. He has taught Anatomy to first year medical students at UCSF for over 25 years and brings this expertise in teaching and clinical practice to humanitarian work in underserved parts of the world.
Dave Atkins, MD
Dr. Dave Atkin is an alumni of the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School, and the University of California, San Francisco Orthopaedic Surgery residency program. Following a fellowship in knee and shoulder surgery, Dr. Atkin became the medical director of SOMA Orthopaedics, and is the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital. During his tenure at St. Luke’s, he has spearheaded volunteer trips to the Philippines, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Caribbean. Dr. Atkin is the current President of Operation Rainbow, which provides free orthopaedic care to children in developing countries.
Adam Warren, MD
Adam Warren is a third year resident in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is actively studying genes involved in fracture repair. He is the founder of OrthoJamaica, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving care of injured people in Jamaica, West Indies through donated orthopaedic education and hardware. Adam is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis on violence and injury prevention. While studying as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, Adam worked in viral vaccines at Chiron Corporation, discoverer of the hepatitis B vaccine.
Throughout his academic training, Adam has been committed to improving access to health and education in underserved communities. At Stanford University School of Medicine, Adam was selected as a Traveling Scholar and worked with researchers at the University of the West Indies to improve health outcomes for low birth weight babies in Kingston, Jamaica. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Music, Mural, and Art Project, an arts-based education project that employs at-risk youth in East Palo Alto, California. Adam earned is BA in Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Immunology from UC Berkeley. He went on to complete his MD degree at Stanford University.
David Rovinsky, MD
Dr. David Rovinsky is an alumni resident of the UCSF Orthopaedic Surgery Program and is currently the Chief of the Bone and Joint Center at Kauai Medical Clinic and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. Dr. Rovinsky’s interest in global health began with his first trip to Nicaragua with Operation Rainbow in 1997. Since then, Dr. Rovinsky has volunteered in El Salvador, South Africa, and the Philippines with Operation Rainbow and Orthopaedics Overseas. In addition to sitting on the board of directors for Orthopaedics Overseas, Dr. Rovinsky emphasizes the importance of global volunteering through lectures and publications.