Image of John Gerard Meara

John G Meara, D.M.D., M.D.

Boston Children's Hospital Professor of Surgery in the Field of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital
Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
617-355-2313

John G. Meara, MD, DMD, MBA is the Director of the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, and Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Meara serves as the Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief of the Department of Plastic & Oral Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital.   He was Co-Chair for the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and was a commissioner on the Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era, and the Lancet Oncology Commission.   He currently serves as a commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Diagnostics.  In 2008 he created the Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellowship program. He is also interested in value-based health care and implementation science research, including time driven activity-based cost research and outcomes research.  Dr. Meara has led several ICHOM projects focusing on outcomes reporting and international benchmarking. 

Affiliations
Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital

Contact Information
Harvard Medical School
Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
641 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Boston Children's Hospital
Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery

Assistant
Marshalee Bowens

Dr. Meara's interests and innovation activities lie in the areas of craniofacial anomalies, cleft lip and cleft palate, but he has a particular interest in augmenting the delivery of quality surgical and anesthesia care in low-resource settings through long term capacity building. He is involved in multiple global surgery projects looking at the burden of surgical disease, the surgical capacity and health systems building in low-resource environments, surgical education and the economic impact of untreated surgical disease. He is also interested in value based health care and implementation science research, including time driven activity based cost research and outcomes research. Dr. Meara has led several ICHOM projects focusing on outcomes reporting and international benchmarking. Since 2008, he has directed the Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellowship program in collaboration with Partners In Health. Its purpose is to strengthen global surgical systems through a combination of research, advocacy, and implementation science as well as train leaders who will further promote surgical care, education, and research pertinent to global surgery.

Research Interests

Organizational learning in surgery in Tanzania's health system: a descriptive cross-sectional study.
Authors: Authors: Alidina S, Hayirli TC, Amiri A, Barash D, Chwa C, Hellar A, Kengia JT, Kissima I, Mayengo CD, Meara JG, Mwita WC, Staffa SJ, Tibyehabwa L, Wurdeman T, Kapologwe NA.
Int J Qual Health Care
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Strengthening health systems through surgery.
Authors: Authors: Nepogodiev D, Ismail L, Meara JG, Roslani AC, Harrison EM, Bhangu A.
Lancet
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Effects of Sociodemographic and Child Opportunity Index on Pediatric Plastic and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical Volume Trends in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Authors: Authors: McCollister K, Berry JG, Melvin P, Tartarilla AB, Nuzzi LC, Lajoie D, Meara JG, Ward VL.
Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open
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Hospital Variation and Resource Use for Infants with Craniosynostosis Undergoing Open, Endoscopic, and Distraction Osteogenesis Surgical Techniques.
Authors: Authors: Kanack MD, Proctor MR, Meara JG, Balkin DM, Rodean J, Stringfellow IC, Berry JG.
Cleft Palate Craniofac J
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Scalable policy adoption and sustainable implementation of surgical care in the Americas.
Authors: Authors: Kumar N, Hyman GY, Gerk A, Wurdeman T, Uribe-Leitz T, Corlew S, Park KB, Meara JG, Riviello R, Makasa EM, Kolker J, Manrique J, Ayala RE, Ibbotson GC, Mejia A, Falcão LF, Fuentes MJG, Montalvo-Samaniego M, Baki IA, Bascolo E, Vega AB.
Rev Panam Salud Publica
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Ecuador's National Surgical Strengthening Plan: first in Latin America, provides hope for surgical care agenda.
Authors: Authors: Hyman GY, Salamea JC, Gerk A, Kumar N, Wurdeman T, Park KB, Rodas E, Meara JG, Riviello R, Uribe-Leitz T, Jimbo R.
Rev Panam Salud Publica
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Child Opportunity Index Disparities in Pediatric Surgical Encounters During the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic.
Authors: Authors: Berry JG, Ferrari L, Ward VL, Hall M, Desmarais A, Raval MV, Tian Y, Mathieu D, Incorvia J, Meara JG.
Acad Pediatr
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An introduction to digital determinants of health.
Authors: Authors: Chidambaram S, Jain B, Jain U, Mwavu R, Baru R, Thomas B, Greaves F, Jayakumar S, Jain P, Rojo M, Battaglino MR, Meara JG, Sounderajah V, Celi LA, Darzi A.
PLOS Digit Health
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A practical tool for managing change: Cross-sectional psychometric assessment of the safe surgery organizational readiness tool.
Authors: Authors: Hayirli TC, Meara JG, Abahuje E, Alayande B, Augustin S, Barash D, Boatin AA, Kalolo A, Kengia J, Kingpriest P, Kissima I, Lugazia ER, Mpirimbanyi C, Ngonzi J, Njai A, Smith VL, Kapologwe N, Alidina S.
Int J Surg
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Surgically Correctable Congenital Anomalies: Reducing Morbidity and Mortality in the First 8000 Days of Life.
Authors: Authors: Banu T, Sharma S, Chowdhury TK, Aziz TT, Martin B, Seyi-Olajide JO, Ameh E, Ozgediz D, Lakhoo K, Bickler SW, Meara JG, Bundy D, Jamison DT, Klazura G, Sykes A, Yap A, Philipo GS.
World J Surg
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