Physician Scientist Collective Distinguished Speaker Series

Dr. Federico E. Vaca is a distinguished physician-scientist and leader in emergency medicine, injury prevention, and automotive safety research. He currently serves as Professor and Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine. Throughout his career, Dr. Vaca has made significant contributions to injury prevention and motor vehicle safety. His research focuses on motor vehicle crash injury epidemiology, young driver behavior and driving simulation, alcohol and drug-impaired driving prevention, and alcohol and injury-related health disparities.

Dr. Vaca's research has received substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His achievements include ranking as the sixth-highest NIH-funded emergency medicine investigator in 2018, founding UCI's Center for Trauma & Injury Prevention Research, and establishing Yale's Developmental Neurocognitive Driving Simulation Research Center. He has previously served as a Medical Fellow for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, DC.  Dr. Vaca has chaired and participated in various NIH scientific review committees and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – Transportation Research Board standing committees andpanels. Currently, Dr. Vaca serves as president of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), where he oversees national and international initiatives to enhance road traffic safety and reduce traffic-related injuries and fatalities. Under his leadership, the AAAM continues to advance evidence-based approaches to automotive safety and injury prevention.