Christine S. Cocanour, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.C.C.M.
Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Academic Personnel
Christine S. Cocanour, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.C.C.M., is the Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Academic Personnel and a distinguished professor of Clinical Surgery.
Cocanour obtained a bachelor’s in both biology and chemistry from the University of Toledo. She attended medical school at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She completed a general surgery residency at Case Western Reserve, which included one year as a Dudley P. Allen Research Fellow. Following residency, Cocanour completed a Trauma Critical Care fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) Houston and joined the faculty in 1989. She was promoted to professor of surgery in 2005. At UTHSC-Houston, she was the Program Director of the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship and the Medical Director of the Shock Trauma ICU at Memorial Hermann Hospital.
In 2006, Cocanour joined the UC Davis School of Medicine faculty. At UC Davis, she has continued her interest in trauma, emergency general surgery and surgical critical care as the Program Director for the UC Davis Surgical Critical Care Fellowship and the Medical Director of the UC Davis Medical Center Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Her research interests include improving care for those who are injured or require surgical critical care. This includes improving pain management, reducing unplanned intubations or providing best practice guidelines for trauma surgeons.
Cocanour has served as the Quality and Safety Chair for the Department of Surgery and the Department of Surgery’s National Surgical Quality Improvement Program champion. She recently transitioned to serve as the Associate Program Director for the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship as she began serving as the Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Academic Personnel. Prior to this current administrative office, she served as the Associate Dean for Academic Advancements.
Cocanour previously served as the President of the Western Trauma Association, the President of the Northern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, the Central Committee of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (COT), the Chair of the COT Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Committee, and as the Chair of the COT Best Practices Guidelines Committee.