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

Factors Associated With Late Surgical Cancellations in Pediatric Plastic and Oral Surgery.
Authors: Authors: Beijnen UEA, Noonan Caillouette C, Flath-Sporn SJ, Maclellan RA, Sanchez K, Labow BI, Meara JG, Taghinia AH.
Ann Plast Surg
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Global Surgery System Strengthening: It Is All About the Right Metrics.
Authors: Authors: Watters DA, Guest GD, Tangi V, Shrime MG, Meara JG.
Anesth Analg
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Pediatric surgical capacity building - a pathway to improving access to pediatric surgical care in Haiti.
Authors: Authors: Kaseje N, Jenny H, Jeudy AP, MacLee JL, Meara JG, Ford HR.
J Pediatr Surg
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Population-based incidence rate of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures in a high-income country.
Authors: Authors: Omling E, Jarnheimer A, Rose J, Björk J, Meara JG, Hagander L.
Br J Surg
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Perioperative mortality rates in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Authors: Authors: Ng-Kamstra JS, Arya S, Greenberg SLM, Kotagal M, Arsenault C, Ljungman D, Yorlets RR, Agarwal A, Frankfurter C, Nikouline A, Lai FYX, Palmqvist CL, Fu T, Mahmood T, Raju S, Sharma S, Marks IH, Bowder A, Pi L, Meara JG, Shrime MG.
BMJ Glob Health
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Geospatial mapping of access to timely essential surgery in sub-Saharan Africa.
Authors: Authors: Juran S, Broer PN, Klug SJ, Snow RC, Okiro EA, Ouma PO, Snow RW, Tatem AJ, Meara JG, Alegana VA.
BMJ Glob Health
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Prevalence of Untreated Surgical Conditions in Rural Rwanda: A Population-Based Cross-sectional Study in Burera District.
Authors: Authors: Maine RG, Linden AF, Riviello R, Kamanzi E, Mody GN, Ntakiyiruta G, Kansayisa G, Ntaganda E, Niyonkuru F, Mubiligi JM, Mpunga T, Meara JG, Hedt-Gauthier BL.
JAMA Surg
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Patient Navigation by Community Health Workers Increases Access to Surgical Care in Rural Haiti.
Authors: Authors: Matousek AC, Addington SR, Kahan J, Sannon H, Luckner T, Exe C, Jean Louis RRE, Lipsitz S, Meara JG, Riviello R.
World J Surg
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Safe Surgery for All: Early Lessons from Implementing a National Government-Driven Surgical Plan in Ethiopia.
Authors: Authors: Burssa D, Teshome A, Iverson K, Ahearn O, Ashengo T, Barash D, Barringer E, Citron I, Garringer K, McKitrick V, Meara J, Mengistu A, Mukhopadhyay S, Reynolds C, Shrime M, Varghese A, Esseye S, Bekele A.
World J Surg
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Pediatric Orbital Floor Fractures: Clinical and Radiological Predictors of Tissue Entrapment and the Effect of Operative Timing on Ocular Outcomes.
Authors: Authors: Firriolo JM, Ontiveros NC, Pike CM, Taghinia AH, Rogers-Vizena CR, Ganor O, Greene AK, Meara JG, Labow BI.
J Craniofac Surg
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