Leading the Fight Against Vascular Disease in Santa Cruz: Thirty Years of Community Leadership That No Short-Term Narrative Can Replace

South Bay Vascular Center’s arrival in Santa Cruz and the surrounding coastal communities marks the beginning of a new era of true vascular excellence — not an imitation, not a pop-up clinic, and not a once-a-week procedural stop by physicians who are busy somewhere else the moment real complications arise.

For 30 years, South Bay Vascular has led the fight against vascular disease throughout Silicon Valley. Now, that same depth of experience, judgment, and surgical mastery is fully available to the people of Santa Cruz, Capitola, Scotts Valley, Aptos, and Watsonville — backed by full hospital credentialing, 24/7 call coverage, and real boots-on-the-ground commitment to this community.

Others can imitate the narrative. But they cannot imitate the truth: long-standing community presence, decades of outcomes, University-level training, and surgeons who are there for their patients: Day or Night.

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute: We Offer Hope When Others Say There Is None

Dr. Ruby Lo: Harvard-Trained. Brown University Faculty. Bringing World-Class Vascular Care to Santa Cruz.

When South Bay Vascular expands into a new community, we do not send part-time doctors.

We bring leaders.

Dr. Ruby Lo — a fellowship-trained vascular surgeon from Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital, and former Assistant Professor of Vascular Surgery at Brown University’s Rhode Island Hospital — brings one of the most elite vascular pedigrees anywhere in the United States directly to the Santa Cruz coast.

Her background represents the peak of academic and clinical training:

  • Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital fellowship

  • Brown University faculty appointment

  • Extensive experience in complex limb salvage

  • Nationally recognized expertise in advanced vascular and endovascular procedures

  • Published researcher and educator

  • Deep commitment to community-based care

Santa Cruz continues to benefit from a caliber of physician normally found only in the top academic centers on the planet— but Dr Lo is now backed up by an entire team of board certified vascular surgeons who are fully integrated into Dominican Hospital, taking vascular call, treating emergencies, and caring for patients in the community she serves.

This is not a satellite clinic.

This is Harvard-trained, Brown-credentialed vascular care, delivered locally.

Dr. Polly Kokinos: 30 Years of Unmatched Experience — Now Fighting for Santa Cruz

Alongside Dr. Lo stands Dr. Polly Kokinos, board-certified vascular surgeon, founder of South Bay Vascular Center, and widely recognized as one of the most experienced, compassionate, and technically skilled vascular surgeons in Northern California.

For more than three decades, Dr. Kokinos has:

  • Performed thousands of complex vascular surgeries

  • Led the region in limb salvage and PAD treatment

  • Built one of the highest-rated vascular practices in the state

  • Earned over 350+ five-star Google reviews — unmatched by any competitor

  • Served as a trusted partner to physicians, hospitals, and wound centers across the region

Her philosophy is simple: show up, serve the community, save limbs, save lives — every time.

Now Santa Cruz benefits from the full weight of her experience AND her team.

Not a diluted version.
Not a part-time presence.
Her real practice, her real outcomes, and her real leadership are now part of the Santa Cruz medical landscape.

We Don’t Just “See Patients.” We Take Responsibility for a Community.

South Bay Vascular is not here to skim Medicare procedures or operate a vein-only clinic. We are here to deliver full-spectrum vascular surgical care to everyone — from routine vein evaluations to life-saving emergency surgery.

That includes:

Full Vascular Surgical Privileges at Dominican Hospital

Our surgeons don’t merely see patients once a week and drive back over the hill.
They are credentialed at Dominican Hospital to:

  • Admit patients

  • Perform complex vascular surgery

  • Manage emergencies 24/7

  • Provide inpatient coverage

  • Take vascular call

This is what real community commitment looks like — and it is something no short-term entrant can imitate.

Credentialed With Central Coast Alliance for Health: Because We Serve the Entire Community — Not Just Medicare

Santa Cruz deserves physicians who are here for everyone, not just the most profitable subset of the population.

South Bay Vascular has completed credentialing with Central Coast Alliance for Health, the leading payer across the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay region.

This ensures:

  • Low-income patients are cared for

  • High-risk patients are not turned away

  • Underinsured patients receive the same level of expertise as everyone else

  • The whole community benefits from world-class vascular care

We did this because Santa Cruz needs real commitment — not selective participation.

Deep Collaboration With Santa Cruz Primary Care, Podiatry, Nephrology, Wound Care, and Cardiology

Our growth in Santa Cruz is powered by more than hospital privileges. It is supported by deep and ongoing physician outreach:

  • Primary care physicians

  • Internists

  • Podiatrists

  • Cardiologists

  • Nephrologists

  • Urgent care providers

  • Wound care centers

  • Hospitalists and emergency medicine physicians

We have spent months meeting with and supporting local providers to ensure one outcome:

The best possible vascular care for every patient, every time, without gaps, delays, or guesswork.

Because Santa Cruz and the surrounding coastal communities deserve a connected, collaborative, and responsive vascular team — not a clinic that appears once a week and disappears the moment complications arise; not a general surgery clinic who must hand off difficult and complex vascular surgical problems to vascular surgeons when the going gets rough - South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute is here in Santa Cruz to provide the highest level of Vascular Surgical Care available anywhere on the planet.

A FULL team of Board Certified Vascular Surgeons, dedicated to saving limbs and saving lives.

Others Can Imitate.

But Santa Cruz Knows the Difference Between Showing Up — and Leading.

Marketing narratives come and go.
Pop-up vein centers come and go.
Traveling proceduralists come and go.

But trust, reputation, outcomes, and community presence are earned slowly — over decades.

South Bay Vascular didn’t arrive in Santa Cruz to follow someone else’s lead. We came to set the standard, just as we have for 30 years in Silicon Valley.

And the people of Santa Cruz deserve nothing less.

Call to Action: The Time is Now

As the calendar year winds down, many patients have already met their insurance deductibles. This is the ideal time to schedule your vascular or vein evaluation before your next plan year resets. If you or someone you know suffers from:

  • Varicose veins, leg swelling or heaviness

  • Pain in the leg when walking, especially with diabetes or peripheral arterial disease

  • Non-healing leg wounds or discoloration

  • Dialysis access concerns

  • Aneurysm or carotid circulation concerns

Call us at 408-376-3626 to schedule your consultation at our Campbell (main), Gilroy, Santa Cruz, Fremont (and soon East San Jose) offices.


Choose the team with three decades of success

We don’t imitate. We lead.
We don’t chase profits. We deliver outcomes.
We don’t copy. We set the standard.

At South Bay Vascular Center & Vein Institute, we believe medicine is a calling—not a business strategy. And because we believe that, our patients win.

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute

Leading the fight against Vascular Disease 

Posted on 11/13/2025 at 12:11 AM