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

Surgical Non-governmental Organizations: Global Surgery's Unknown Nonprofit Sector.
Authors: Authors: Ng-Kamstra JS, Riesel JN, Arya S, Weston B, Kreutzer T, Meara JG, Shrime MG.
World J Surg
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Head and neck cancer in South Asia: Macroeconomic consequences and the role of the head and neck surgeon.
Authors: Authors: Alkire BC, Bergmark RW, Chambers K, Lin DT, Deschler DG, Cheney ML, Meara JG.
Head Neck
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Tracking perioperative mortality and maternal mortality: challenges and opportunities.
Authors: Authors: Arya S, Ng-Kamstra J, Meara JG, Langer A.
Lancet Glob Health
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A Novel Local Autologous Bone Graft Donor Site After Scalp Tissue Expansion in Aplasia Cutis Congenita.
Authors: Authors: Hadad I, Meara JG, Rogers-Vizena CR.
J Craniofac Surg
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Progress in achieving universal access to surgical care: An update and a path forward.
Authors: Authors: Raykar N, Mukhopadhyay S, Ng-Kamstra JS, Lin Y, Saluja S, Scott JW, Anderson G, Meara JG, Tefera G, Bickler SW.
Bull Am Coll Surg
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Validation of a community-based survey assessing nonobstetric surgical conditions in Burera District, Rwanda.
Authors: Authors: Linden AF, Maine RG, Hedt-Gauthier BL, Kamanzi E, Gauvey-Kern K, Mody G, Ntakiyiruta G, Kansayisa G, Ntaganda E, Niyonkuru F, Mubiligi J, Mpunga T, Meara JG, Riviello R.
Surgery
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Focusing Quality Improvement Initiatives in Pediatric Plastic Surgery: A Descriptive Study Using the Pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.
Authors: Authors: Flath-Sporn SJ, Yorlets RR, Rangel SJ, Stey AM, Redett RJ, Urata MM, Meara JG, Taghinia AH.
J Craniofac Surg
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Meaningful use: A program in transition.
Authors: Authors: Resnick CM, Meara JG, Peltzman M, Gilley M.
Bull Am Coll Surg
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Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development.
Authors: Authors: Meara JG, Leather AJ, Hagander L, Alkire BC, Alonso N, Ameh EA, Bickler SW, Conteh L, Dare AJ, Davies J, Mérisier ED, El-Halabi S, Farmer PE, Gawande A, Gillies R, Greenberg SL, Grimes CE, Gruen RL, Ismail EA, Kamara TB, Lavy C, Lundeg G, Mkandawire NC, Raykar NP, Riesel JN, Rodas E, Rose J, Roy N, Shrime MG, Sullivan R, Verguet S, Watters D, Weiser TG, Wilson IH, Yamey G, Yip W.
Int J Obstet Anesth
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The How Project: understanding contextual challenges to global surgical care provision in low-resource settings.
Authors: Authors: Raykar NP, Yorlets RR, Liu C, Goldman R, Greenberg SLM, Kotagal M, Farmer PE, Meara JG, Roy N, Gillies RD.
BMJ Glob Health
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