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 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
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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
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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
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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
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The Lancet commission on global surgery makes progress in first year of work: an update.
Authors: Authors: Greenberg SL, Vega MP, Bowder AN, Meara JG.
Bull Am Coll Surg
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Estimating the global incidence of femoral fracture from road traffic collisions: a literature review.
Authors: Authors: Agarwal-Harding KJ, Meara JG, Greenberg SL, Hagander LE, Zurakowski D, Dyer GS.
J Bone Joint Surg Am
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Tongue-tie Repair: Z-Plasty Vs Simple Release.
Authors: Authors: Yousefi J, Tabrizian Namini F, Raisolsadat SM, Gillies R, Ashkezari A, Meara JG.
Iran J Otorhinolaryngol
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New resources from the College offer alternative approaches to medical liability reform.
Authors: Authors: Coffron M, Raykar N, Selzer DJ, Meara JG.
Bull Am Coll Surg
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The global met need for emergency obstetric care: a systematic review.
Authors: Authors: Holmer H, Oyerinde K, Meara JG, Gillies R, Liljestrand J, Hagander L.
BJOG
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A novel approach for needs assessment to build global orthopedic surgical capacity in a low-income country.
Authors: Authors: Bhashyam AR, Fils J, Lowell J, Meara JG, Dyer GS.
J Surg Educ
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