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

Access to paediatric surgery: the geography of inequality in Nigeria.
Authors: Authors: El Vilaly MAS, Jones MA, Stankey MC, Seyi-Olajide J, Onajin-Obembe B, Dasogot A, Klug SJ, Meara J, Ameh EA, Osagie OO, Juran S.
BMJ Glob Health
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A multimodal mentorship intervention to improve surgical quality in Tanzania's Lake Zone: a convergent, mixed methods assessment.
Authors: Authors: Alidina S, Tibyehabwa L, Alreja SS, Barash D, Bien-Aime D, Cainer M, Charles K, Ernest E, Eyembe J, Fitzgerald L, Giiti GC, Hellar A, Hussein Y, Kahindo F, Kenemo B, Kihunrwa A, Kisakye S, Kissima I, Meara JG, Reynolds C, Staffa SJ, Sydlowski M, Varallo J, Zanial N, Kapologwe NA, Mayengo CD.
Hum Resour Health
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Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine COVID-19 seminar series: COVID and surgical, anesthetic and obstetric care.
Authors: Authors: Miranda E, Meara JG, Pendleton A, Peters AW, Santhirapala V, Ashraf N, Alonso N, Hakizimana S, Bekele A, Park KB, Farmer P.
BMC Proc
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Global surgery, obstetric, and anaesthesia indicator definitions and reporting: An Utstein consensus report.
Authors: Authors: Davies JI, Gelb AW, Gore-Booth J, Martin J, Mellin-Olsen J, Åkerman C, Ameh EA, Biccard BM, Braut GS, Chu KM, Derbew M, Ersdal HL, Guzman JM, Hagander L, Haylock-Loor C, Holmer H, Johnson W, Juran S, Kassebaum NJ, Laerdal T, Leather AJM, Lipnick MS, Ljungman D, Makasa EM, Meara JG, Newton MW, Østergaard D, Reynolds T, Romanzi LJ, Santhirapala V, Shrime MG, Søreide K, Steinholt M, Suzuki E, Varallo JE, Visser GHA, Watters D, Weiser TG.
PLoS Med
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Assessment of surgical capacity in Chiapas, Mexico: a cross-sectional study of the public and private sector.
Authors: Authors: Roa L, Moeller E, Fowler Z, Carrillo F, Mohar S, Williams W, Meara J, Riviello R, Uribe-Leitz T, Macias V.
BMJ Open
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Spring-mediated cranioplasty versus endoscopic strip craniectomy for sagittal craniosynostosis.
Authors: Authors: Lang SS, Meier PM, Paden WZ, Storm PB, Heuer GG, Bartlett SP, Taylor JA, Swanson JW, Meara JG, Proctor M, Okunowo O, Stricker PA.
J Neurosurg Pediatr
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Outcomes of a multicomponent safe surgery intervention in Tanzania's Lake Zone: a prospective, longitudinal study.
Authors: Authors: Alidina S, Menon G, Staffa SJ, Alreja S, Barash D, Barringer E, Cainer M, Citron I, DiMeo A, Ernest E, Fitzgerald L, Ghandour H, Gruendl M, Hellar A, Jumbam DT, Katoto A, Kelly L, Kisakye S, Kuchukhidze S, Lama T, Lodge Ii W, Maina E, Massaga F, Mazhiqi A, Meara JG, Mshana S, Nason I, Reynolds C, Reynolds C, Segirinya H, Simba D, Smith V, Strader C, Sydlowski M, Tibyehabwa L, Tinuga F, Troxel A, Ulisubisya M, Varallo J, Wurdeman T, Zanial N, Zurakowski D, Kapologwe N, Maongezi S.
Int J Qual Health Care
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Global and regional overview of the inclusion of paediatric surgery in the national health plans of 124 countries: an ecological study.
Authors: Authors: Landrum K, Cotache-Condor CF, Liu Y, Truche P, Robinson J, Thompson N, Granzin R, Ameh E, Bickler S, Samad L, Meara J, Rice HE, Smith ER.
BMJ Open
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Potentially Avertable Child Mortality Associated with Surgical Workforce Scale-up in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Global Study.
Authors: Authors: Truche P, Botelho F, Bowder AN, Levis AW, Greenberg SLM, Smith E, Corlew S, Bickler S, Rice HE, Ameh EA, Meara JG, Poenaru D, Mooney DP.
World J Surg
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Empowering Surgeons, Anesthesiologists, and Obstetricians to Incorporate Environmental Sustainability in the Operating Room.
Authors: Authors: Yates EF, Bowder AN, Roa L, Velin L, Goodman AS, Nguyen LL, McClain CD, Meara JG, Cooper Z.
Ann Surg
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