Dr. Tejal S. Brahmbhatt

The Value of Coaches, Mentors, and Sponsors in Academic Surgery

Tejal S. Brahmbhatt, M.D., F.A.C.S., is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Jim and Elanore Randall Department of Surgery at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He completed his general surgery internship with the Washington University School of Medicine BJC Consortium, followed by a general surgery residency at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. He then pursued fellowship training in traumatology, emergency general surgery, and surgical critical care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Brahmbhatt spent a decade on the faculty at Boston Medical Center, the flagship teaching hospital of Boston University and highest volume trauma center and safety-net hospital in the New England area. In August 2023, he was recruited to Cedars-Sinai to lead Surgical Critical Care, where he serves as Medical Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Program Director of Southern California’s oldest Surgical Critical Care fellowship. Nationally, Dr. Brahmbhatt is the President-Elect of the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons and has held leadership roles in major American trauma surgery, surgical education, and surgical critical care societies. He has a strong commitment to surgical education, developing programs that introduce medical students to surgery early in their training. He is a question writer and oral examiner for the American Board of Surgery and contributes to the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Multidisciplinary Critical Care Knowledge Assessment Program. Dr. Brahmbhatt has received numerous teaching awards for his mentorship of medical students, residents, and fellows, many of whom have gone on to successful academic surgical careers. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Surgical Research and as the Surgical Critical Care pillar lead for the Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open Journal’s patient education series initiative. His research has been sponsored by both the National Institutes of Health and industry partners, focusing on trauma surgery and surgical critical care. He has lectured nationally and internationally on trauma surgery, emergency general surgery, surgical critical care, and surgical education. Outside of medicine, Dr. Brahmbhatt has advanced training in late Romantic-era classical music theory and composition and serves globally as a special consultant in the film production industry.

With Society of Asian Academic Surgeons