Photo of Mark Shrime

Mark Shrime, PhD, MD

Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
O'Brien Chair of Global Surgery, Institute of Global Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Professor Mark G. Shrime, MD, MPH, PhD, FACS, is O’Brien Chair of Global Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.

He previously served as the founder and Director of the Center for Global Surgery Evaluation at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and as Research Director for the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard. 

He is the author of seminal papers on the global burden of surgical disease, the financial burden facing surgical patients, and the number of people who cannot access safe surgery worldwide. He served as a co-author on the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery.

Dr. Shrime graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1996 with a BA in molecular biology. He received his MD from the University of Texas in 2001, after taking a year to teach organic chemistry in Singapore. Medical school was followed by a residency in otolaryngology at the joint Columbia/Cornell program in Manhattan, followed, in turn, by a fellowship in head and neck surgical oncology at the University of Toronto in 2007. He completed a second fellowship in microvascular reconstructive surgery, also at the University of Toronto, in 2008. He was the first to identify a novel independent prognostic indicator in head and neck cancer.

To date, he has worked and taught in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Benin, Togo, Congo, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, and Madagascar. In May, 2011, he graduated with an MPH in global health from the Harvard School of Public Health, where he was a finalist for both the Albert Schweitzer award and the HSPH Student Recognition award, and in May, 2015, he received his PhD in health policy from Harvard University, with a concentration in decision science.

His academic pursuits focus on surgical delivery in low- and middle-income countries, where he has a specific interest in the intersection of health and impoverishment. His work aims to determine optimal policies and platforms for surgical delivery that maximize health benefits while simultaneously minimizing the risk of financial catastrophe faced by patients. He is currently the Principal Investigator on a randomized controlled trial of financial incentives for surgical patients in Guinea and the Principal Investigator on a prospective extended cost-effectiveness analysis of maxillofacial surgery in West Africa.

Authors Reply: Understanding state-level Medicaid expansion in the context of nationwide data.
Authors: Authors: Scott JW, Shrime MG, Stewart BT, Arbabi S, Bulger EM, Cuschieri J, Maier RV, Robinson BRH.
J Trauma Acute Care Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed
Cost Utility Analysis of Dupilumab Versus Endoscopic Sinus Surgery for Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps.
Authors: Authors: Scangas GA, Wu AW, Ting JY, Metson R, Walgama E, Shrime MG, Higgins TS.
Laryngoscope
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The Scale-Up of the Global Surgical Workforce: Can Estimates be Achieved by 2030?
Authors: Authors: Daniels KM, Riesel JN, Verguet S, Meara JG, Shrime MG.
World J Surg
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Towards defining the surgical workforce for children: a geospatial analysis in Brazil.
Authors: Authors: Rocha TAH, Vissoci J, Rocha N, Poenaru D, Shrime M, Smith ER, Rice HE.
BMJ Open
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Development of a surgical assessment tool for national policy monitoring & evaluation in Ethiopia: A quality improvement study.
Authors: Authors: Iverson KR, Ahearn O, Citron I, Garringer K, Mukhodpadhyay S, Teshome A, Bekele A, Workneh S, Workneh RS, Zemenfeskudus S, Gultie T, Varghese A, Shrime MG, Meara JG, Burssa D.
Int J Surg
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Global Burden of Head and Neck Cancer: Economic Consequences, Health, and the Role of Surgery.
Authors: Authors: Patterson RH, Fischman VG, Wasserman I, Siu J, Shrime MG, Fagan JJ, Koch W, Alkire BC.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
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Waiting Too Long: The Contribution of Delayed Surgical Access to Pediatric Disease Burden in Somaliland.
Authors: Authors: Smith ER, Concepcion TL, Shrime M, Niemeier K, Mohamed M, Dahir S, Ismail EA, Poenaru D, Rice HE.
World J Surg
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Health care during electricity failure: The hidden costs.
Authors: Authors: Mechtenberg A, McLaughlin B, DiGaetano M, Awodele A, Omeeboh L, Etwalu E, Nanjula L, Musaazi M, Shrime M.
PLoS One
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The impact of physician migration on mortality in low and middle-income countries: an economic modelling study.
Authors: Authors: Saluja S, Rudolfson N, Massenburg BB, Meara JG, Shrime MG.
BMJ Glob Health
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Lifting the burden: State Medicaid expansion reduces financial risk for the injured.
Authors: Authors: Scott JW, Shrime MG, Stewart BT, Arbabi S, Bulger EM, Cuschieri J, Maier RV, Robinson BRH.
J Trauma Acute Care Surg
View full abstract on Pubmed