Richard Coughlin, MD

Dr. Richard Coughlin 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. As a Clinical Professor of Orthopaedics in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCSF at the Orthopaedic Trauma Institute based at San Francisco General Hospital, the county hospital for trauma and the indigent of the city and county of San Francisco. Rick completed his master’s degree in ‘Public Health in Developing Countries’ at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004. Rick was awarded the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Humanitarian of the Year Award, which is given to one surgeon world-wide annually, for the care of disadvantaged populations both at home and abroad.

External Leadership Roles:
Orthopaedic Trauma Association; Humanitarian Committee Chairman
World Health Organization; Consult