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

Public reporting of healthcare data: a new frontier in quality improvement.
Authors: Authors: Sharma K, Metzler I, Chen S, Mayer JE, Meara J.
Bull Am Coll Surg
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The impact of natural disaster on pediatric surgical delivery: a review of Haiti six months before and after the 2010 earthquake.
Authors: Authors: Hughes CD, Nash KA, Alkire BC, McClain CD, Hagander LE, Smithers CJ, Raymonville M, Sullivan SR, Riviello R, Rogers SO, Meara JG.
J Health Care Poor Underserved
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Cost differences between the anterior and posterior approaches to the iliac crest for alveolar bone grafting in patients with cleft lip/palate.
Authors: Authors: Kupfer P, Abbott MM, Abramowicz S, Meara JG, Padwa BL.
J Oral Maxillofac Surg
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American plastic surgery and global health: a brief history.
Authors: Authors: Hughes CD, Alkire B, Martin C, Semer N, Meara JG.
Ann Plast Surg
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Arab Health
Authors: Authors: Jayaratne N, Meara JG
Recent Advances in Craniofacial Imaging
Obstructed labor and caesarean delivery: the cost and benefit of surgical intervention.
Authors: Authors: Alkire BC, Vincent JR, Burns CT, Metzler IS, Farmer PE, Meara JG.
PLoS One
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A systematic review of barriers to breast cancer care in developing countries resulting in delayed patient presentation.
Authors: Authors: Sharma K, Costas A, Shulman LN, Meara JG.
J Oncol
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An opportunity for diagonal development in global surgery: cleft lip and palate care in resource-limited settings.
Authors: Authors: Patel PB, Hoyler M, Maine R, Hughes CD, Hagander L, Meara JG.
Plast Surg Int
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Cost of treating sagittal synostosis in the first year of life.
Authors: Authors: Abbott MM, Rogers GF, Proctor MR, Busa K, Meara JG.
J Craniofac Surg
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Medical liability reform: evidence for legislative and alternative approaches.
Authors: Authors: Metzler IS, Meara JG.
Bull Am Coll Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed