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

Global access to surgical care: a modelling study.
Authors: Authors: Alkire BC, Raykar NP, Shrime MG, Weiser TG, Bickler SW, Rose JA, Nutt CT, Greenberg SL, Kotagal M, Riesel JN, Esquivel M, Uribe-Leitz T, Molina G, Roy N, Meara JG, Farmer PE.
Lancet Glob Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Predictors of clinically significant postoperative events after open craniosynostosis surgery.
Authors: Authors: Goobie SM, Zurakowski D, Proctor MR, Meara JG, Meier PM, Young VJ, Rogers GF.
Anesthesiology
View full abstract on Pubmed
The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery Global surgery 2030: Evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare and economic development.
Authors: Authors: Meara JG, Greenberg SL.
Surgery
View full abstract on Pubmed
Tracking global expenditures on surgery: gaps in knowledge hinder progress.
Authors: Authors: Dieleman JL, Yamey G, Johnson EK, Graves CM, Haakenstad A, Meara JG.
Lancet Glob Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Global surgical and anaesthetic task shifting: a systematic literature review and survey.
Authors: Authors: Federspiel F, Mukhopadhyay S, Milsom P, Scott JW, Riesel JN, Meara JG.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed
Use and definitions of perioperative mortality rates in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
Authors: Authors: Ng-Kamstra JS, Greenberg SL, Kotagal M, Palmqvist CL, Lai FY, Bollam R, Meara JG, Gruen RL.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed
Validation of a community-based survey assessing non-obstetric surgical conditions in Burera District, Rwanda.
Authors: Authors: Linden AF, Maine R, Hedt-Gauthier BL, Kamanzi E, Mody G, Ntakiyiruta G, Kansayisa G, Ntaganda E, Niyonkuru F, Mubiligi J, Mpunga T, Meara JG, Riviello R.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed
Catastrophic expenditure to pay for surgery worldwide: a modelling study.
Authors: Authors: Shrime MG, Dare AJ, Alkire BC, O'Neill K, Meara JG.
Lancet Glob Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Head and neck cancer in South Asia: macroeconomic consequences and the role of surgery.
Authors: Authors: Alkire BC, Bergmark RW, Chambers K, Cheney ML, Meara JG.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed
Surgical care by non-surgeons in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
Authors: Authors: Hoyler M, Hagander L, Gillies R, Riviello R, Chu K, Bergström S, Meara JG.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed