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

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 surgery: defining an emerging global health field.
Authors: Authors: Dare AJ, Grimes CE, Gillies R, Greenberg SL, Hagander L, Meara JG, Leather AJ.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed
Surgical outcomes and cultural perceptions in international hypospadias care.
Authors: Authors: Metzler IS, Nguyen HT, Hagander L, Jalloh M, Nguyen T, Gueye SM, deVries CR, Meara JG.
J Urol
View full abstract on Pubmed
Cost-effectiveness of surgery and its policy implications for global health: a systematic review and analysis.
Authors: Authors: Chao TE, Sharma K, Mandigo M, Hagander L, Resch SC, Weiser TG, Meara JG.
Lancet Glob Health
View full abstract on Pubmed
Dual eligible beneficiaries: roles for surgeons under health care reform.
Authors: Authors: Murthy SS, Weissman JS, Grabowski DC, McDonald K, Kaups KL, Meara JG.
Bull Am Coll Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Measuring value at the provider level in the management of cleft lip and palate patients.
Authors: Authors: Abbott MM, Rosen H, Kupfer P, Meara JG.
Ann Plast Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Medicaid expansion likely to affect the delivery of surgical care.
Authors: Authors: Raykar N, Mandigo M, Nagengast E, Coffron M, Hanks JB, Meara JG, Tracci MC.
Bull Am Coll Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Shortage of doctors, shortage of data: a review of the global surgery, obstetrics, and anesthesia workforce literature.
Authors: Authors: Hoyler M, Finlayson SR, McClain CD, Meara JG, Hagander L.
World J Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Merging Medicare Parts A and B: potential effects on beneficiaries, surgeons, and other stakeholders.
Authors: Authors: Gutnik L, Smith H, Goldszer JF, Bailey HR, Meara JG.
Bull Am Coll Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Medicare reform: a look at the house ways and means proposal.
Authors: Authors: Sangji NF, Hedstrom J, Meara JG, Martin MB.
Bull Am Coll Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Surgery and global health: a Lancet Commission.
Authors: Authors: Meara JG, Hagander L, Leather AJM.
Lancet
View full abstract on Pubmed