Coimbra Sirica

Vice President for Global Health and Science

csirica@burnesscommunications.com

Coimbra joined Burness Communications in March 2004. She had consulted with Burness Communications as a public affairs officer for 14 years, before taking a full-time position in the Communications Office at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). There, she managed editorial staff and served as a science writer and communications officer, planning and implementing AAAS and Science press activities nationally and internationally.

She has arranged international press events, both for Burness and AAAS, in Brazil, France, Italy, Norway, the Philippines, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. Coimbra speaks four languages (English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese) and is conversant in Italian and Portuguese Creole. A former journalist, she covered politics and health policy in Washington, DC, for the San Francisco Chronicle and wrote for the Stamford Advocate. More recently, Coimbra has worked as a freelance editor and writer for Science magazine.

A member of the National Association of Science Writers and the International Science Writers Association, Coimbra volunteers as a program organizer for the annual meetings of the World Federation of Science Journalists.

Coimbra was born in Portugal and raised in Brazil, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Tunisia. She has served as a VISTA volunteer, teaching English to Vietnamese immigrants, and has a bachelor's degree in languages and linguistics from Georgetown University.