David L. Coffman, DO

Areas of Expertise

• General Surgery
• Trauma Surgery & Traumatology
• Surgical Critical Care Medicine
• Quality Improvement Programs (QIPs): CQI, NSQIP (National Surgery); ACS-TQIP (Trauma Surgery); Parenteral/Enteral CQI

Biography

Dr. David Coffman is a board-certified General Surgeon with subsequent fellowship-training in both Trauma Surgery/Traumatology and Surgical Critical Care Medicine with 30 years of clinical experience, currently serving as Associate Dean for the Clinical Education Department and Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at TUCOM.

His medical training began at Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DMU-COM), after which he practiced rurally in the Midwest for several years before matriculating to Yale University School of Medicine/Yale-New Haven Hospital for fellowships in both: Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care Medicine. There, he had much interaction with and educative oversight of the provision of education to medical and surgical specialists, medical staff, residents, and medical students. His career path led to lasting connections with a great diversity of health care practitioners, clinical educators, and medical academic faculty, resulting in opportunities in building site and practice developments, coordination of care, and in the education of resident physicians, PAs, NPs, CRNAs as NBCRNA Surgeon Director, medical students, and nursing students nationwide. He has led a myriad of complex teams from coast-to-coast in complicated scenarios, from medical-surgical clinics and rural critical access hospitals to urgent-acute care settings Level 1 trauma centers.

His leadership and directorship roles have spanned Chief of the Department of Surgery, Medical Staff President, Medical Staff Vice President, Medical Executive Committee Officer and Lead, Peer Review Committee Lead, Medical Staff Secretary, NSQIP Extraction and Analysis Lead, Chair of Trauma Operations Committee, Utilization Review Committee, Credentialing Committees Officer, Outreach Educational Program Advisor and Lecturer, and Expert Traumatology Witness. He has been honored to have been able to draw from such experiences having worked shoulder to shoulder with some of the nation’s most talented healthcare providers in the U.S. He serves on boards and sub-committees, including the AOA, ACOS-dipl., AOBS, ACOS-IDR, NBME, and as item writer and consultant for the NBOME-National Faculty for Clinical Department of Surgery: Surgical Subspecialties and Anesthesia, and NBCRNA.

Other involvement includes strategic planning, accreditation practices, faculty oversight, budgetary allocation, trauma and site verification, accreditation, curriculum and program development. Dr. Coffman has also completed Fellowships with AACOMs Senior Leadership Development & Clinical Education Sub-Group as well as Senior Executive Physician Leadership, Heller School of Social Policy, Brandeis University, Amherst College, Boston.

Clinical Specialty

• General Surgery
• Trauma Surgery
• Surgical Critical Care Medicine

Education

• Yale University School of Medicine, Fellowship in Trauma Surgery & Burn Surgery, New Haven, CT
• Yale University, Fellowship in Surgical Critical Care, New Haven, CT
• General Surgery Residency, Mercy Hospital, Des Moines, IA
• General Internship, Des Moines General Hospital, Des Moines, IA
• Wartburg College, BA, Waverly, IA

Certifications

• CITI-Training Certification, Biomedical Researcher
• Re-certification, American Osteopathic Board of Surgery, January 2021-December 31, 2031
• Re-Certification, American Osteopathic Board of Surgery, May 7, 2011- May 6, 2021
• Board Certified, American Osteopathic Board of Surgery, May 7, 2001- May 6, 2011
• ATLS Instructor
• ATLS
• ACLS
• PALS
• BLS

Honors and Awards

• TUCOM Dean's Recognition awards
• TUCOM Teacher of the Year awards
• NBOME, Diplomate
• Top 10% of Surgeons Nationwide, Crimson Data Report
• Fellowships: Yale Trauma and Surgical Critical Care; Brandheis University Advanced Executive Physician Leadership, AACOM Senior Leadership Development

Research

• The Humanmolecule: Teaching Dynamical Disease with a Bridging Metatheory Between Medical Education Pedagogy and Chaos Theory, invited speaker to the 3rd Satellite Symposium on Complex Systems in Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
  Presentation of same, 32nd Annual International Conference of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences.
• PhD Dissertation, Clinical Psychology, March 2011, Chaos Theory and Non-Linear Systems in Mental Illness: The Shape of Chaos: A Qualitative Analytic for Non-Linear Dynamical Systems in the Re-Differentiation of Schizophrenia; Howard Abel School of Psychology.
• Quantum Mechanics coursework (PHYS 308), Department of Physics, Bates College, Maine.
  Author, Ultrasound for Surgeons, Chapter 19. Trauma Ultrasound, 2nd Ed.
• Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Surgeons, Award of Distinction in General Surgery Discipline Poster Presentation for research submitted for: “Preoperative Assessment of Non-Resectability of Pancreatic Cancer,” New Orleans, Louisiana, 1997.
• Olson A, Coffman D, Young CF. Evaluation of Association between History of Open Chest/Abdominal Surgery and Cardiovascular Risks: An NHANES Study, 2007 - March 2020 (submission JPH-25-0658), Journal of Public Health.
• Young, C, Coffman, D, Garcia-Russell, N. Integrating Telemedicine into Osteopathic Medical Education: A longitudinal Curriculum. Abstract accepted for presentation, accepted for publication; AACOM Oct 2024.
• Young, C, Coffman, D, Garcia-Russell, N. Enhancing Asynchronous Telemedicine Platform with Generative AI: Clinical Cases Presentations. Abstract accepted for presentation, publication to follow; AACOM Oct 2024. Abstract accepted for presentation; accepted for publication; AACOM Oct 2024.
• Garcia-Russel, N, Coffman, D. The Effect of Clinical Settings on Students’ End-of-Rotation Shelf Examination Performance. Abstract accepted for presentation, accepted for publication; AACOM Oct 2024.
• Olson A, Coffman D, Young CF. Association Between History of Open Chest-Abdominal Surgery and Preoperative HgA1c: an NHANES Study. Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES); August 9-12, 024; New Orleans, LA.
• Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES), research poster and presentation, 2024.
• Touro-California 24th Research Day Abstract Award, 2024: Public Health, Epidemiology & Health Sciences Category, Poster Award, 1st Place.
• TUCOM Internal Research Award, Poster Award, 1st Place, 2023.
• Touro-California Clinical Integrated Learning & Technology Faculty Innovation Grant, Enhancing Asynchronous, Distance-Learning Platform on Telemedicine with Generative AI-Generated Clinical Cases, with Dr. C. Young.
• Gatto, A, Loquist, D, Coffman, D, Smith, T, Taylor, A, Teaford, M. 2nd Place Award, TUC Annual Research Day Poster for Social, Behavioral, Educational Sciences & Humanities for the poster, Developing Advanced Anatomical Knowledge through Surgical-Focused Cadaveric Dissection Course for Pre-Clinical Medical Students, TUC; longitudinal research for submission ongoing.
• Co-Principal Investigator, IRAP-SR Proposal: Evaluation of the Association between History of Open Chest or Abdominal Surgery and Cardiovascular Risks: An NHANES [2007–2020]; In Review.
• Co-Principal Investigator, IRB Proposal: Do Handheld Ultrasound Probes Increase Educational Opportunities for Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Medical Students on Clinical Rotations? In Review.

Memberships and Affiliations

• COCA (Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation)
• Accreditation & Assessment Standards
• National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME)
• National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME)
• American Osteopathic Board of Surgery (AOBS)
• American College of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACOS)
• American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
• National Board of Certification & Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA)
• Maine Osteopathic Association, past Board member (MOA)
  
• Maine Medical Association (MMA)
  
• Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California, member, and Presenter (OPSC)
  
• JOMA Manuscript Reviewer
  
• Association for Women Surgeons, Inaugural TUCOM Faculty Lead
  
• American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST)
  
• Eastern Association for Surgical Trauma (EAST)
  
• Society Critical Care Medicine (SCCM)
  
• Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences (SCTPLS)
  
• New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)
  
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)

Teaching Responsibilities

• TUCOM Core Site Faculty Development and Presentations
• TUCOM CED Presentations, OMS2 and OMS3 Cohorts
• International and National Keynote Presentations
• Guest-Faculty Lecturer
• Clinical & Surgical Grand Rounds
• Yale University School of Medicine, Surgical Critical Care Lecturer
• ACLS Instructor
• ATLS Instructor