Robin Coupland

Robin Coupland is a medical adviser in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

He joined the ICRC in 1987 and worked as a field surgeon in Thailand, Cambodia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Angola, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan. He has developed a health-oriented approach to a variety of issues relating to violence and the design and use of weapons.

A graduate of the Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, UK, he trained as a surgeon at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and University College Hospital, London. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1985. He is the holder of a Graduate Diploma in International Law from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

As part of his current position he has focused on the effects of violence and weapons both conventional and non-conventional. He has developed a public health model of armed violence and its effects as a tool for policy-making, reporting and communication.

His current work has two tracks: first, the feasibility of an ICRC operational response in the event of use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical weapons; second, improving security of health care in armed conflicts. He has published medical textbooks about care of wounded people and many articles relating to the surgical management of war wounds, the effects of weapons and armed violence.