Michael J Sise

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Dr. Michael J. Sise is the senior trauma and vascular surgeon and the immediate past Chief of the Medical Staff at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. He attended the College of Holy Cross and the University of Rochester School of Medicine where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Society. Dr. Sise obtained his general surgery and vascular surgery training at Naval Medical Center, San Diego. He is board certified in surgery, vascular surgery, and surgical critical care. Dr. Sise served as chief surgeon aboard aircraft carriers USS Constellation, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Ranger, USS Eisenhower and USS Belleau Wood. Dr. Sise was Chief Surgeon aboard amphibious carriers USS Guam and USS Iwo Jima in the Persian Gulf during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991. He completed a 20-year career as a Naval Medical Officer in 1992 and became Assistant Trauma Medical Director at Mercy Hospital in San Diego. Dr. Sise served as the Trauma Medical Director of Mercy’s Trauma Services from 1994 through 2016 and led their successful transition to become a Level I Trauma Center. He has participated in trauma and critical care research since 1978 and has published extensively in the medical literature. Dr. Sise is a past Clinical Professor of Surgery at the UCSD School of Medicine and the senior teaching faculty member of the General Surgery Residency of Naval Medical Center San Diego. Dr. Sise continues to practice trauma, surgical critical care, and vascular surgery. He also continues to train military surgeons for combat casualty care as a faculty member of the Departments of Surgery and Emergency Medicine Residencies at Naval Medical Center San Diego. The Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Team at Scripps Mercy each year trains over 80 Navy residents and physicians assistants who complete one-month to three-month rotations. In October, 2007, Dr. Sise served as the Senior Visiting Surgeon at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany assisting military surgeons in the care of wounded warriors evacuated from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa. Dr. Sise served the Vice President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the Chairman of the AAST Foundation. He is also past Chairman of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma Prevention Subcommittee. He lectures frequently on topics related to trauma, acute care surgery, vascular surgery, and quality improvement at numerous regional and national medical symposia. Dr. Sise and his wife and colleague Beth, who is a nurse and an attorney and the immediate past Director of Injury Prevention and Trauma Research Programs Scripps Mercy, have received numerous awards for their efforts in prevention of violence, injury, and substance-abuse. Dr. Sise married Beth McDonald Sise in 1976. They have one son, Robert, who is a psychiatrist in Billings, Montana. Michael and Beth Sise frequently sail their Catalina 42 in coastal San Diego waters and cruise to the offshore islands of Southern California. They also enjoy visiting their son and his family