Category: Awards

Posted on

Devin O’Brien-Coon, MD, MSE, Awarded a $2.2M National Institutes of Health Grant

Dr. O’Brien-Coon has been awarded an R01 grant for the project titled, “Molecular mechanisms of hormone-mediated sex differences in wound healing.”

Wound healing is a major clinical problem affecting millions of patients. Preliminary clinical and large animal data show that testosterone impairs tissue repair while estrogen improves it, yet the mechanisms of these effects are poorly understood. This study seeks to transform current concepts of how testosterone and estradiol modulate soft tissue repair with the dual aim of defining hormone-induced alterations in the wound immune environment that drive regenerative versus fibrotic responses and developing potential new therapeutic approaches.

Devin O’Brien-Coon, MD, MSE
Associate Surgeon, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Fellowship Director, BWH Complex Gender & Microsurgery Program
Clinical Director and Surgical Co-Director, Brigham Center for Transgender Health
Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. O’Brien directs a basic science lab focusing on cutaneous repair, fibrosis and regeneration, as well as sex hormone-mediated control of wound healing and scarring. He is also interested in biomedical innovation and has invented and successfully translated two FDA-approved medical devices (a bioresorbable implant and a 3D ultrasound system) to clinical use.

Before joining the Brigham, Dr. O’Brien served as the founding chief medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health, where he developed a multidisciplinary service line across eight departments that became one of the largest academic programs in the U.S. He is recognized as a leader in genitourinary salvage procedures and is frequently referred secondary revision cases. He initiated and directed the Johns Hopkins Complex Gender & Microsurgery Fellowship. He will serve as inaugural clinical and surgical director of the new Brigham Center for Transgender Health.

His primary clinical areas are facial gender surgery, facial aesthetic surgery, genital gender-affirming surgery and genital/pelvic reconstruction for revision or oncologic patients.

Dr. O’Brien attended college and medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and holds a master’s in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He completed integrated plastic surgery training at the Johns Hopkins/UMD Shock Trauma Center program and is board certified in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Posted on

2024 Final Service Conference and Graduation Awards

The following recipients were recently honored with awards at the Final Service Conference.

Surgery Class of ’63 Scholar – Katherine He, MD

Surgical Oncology Research Award – Eliza Lorentzen, MD

PBB Scholar Award (This award is the highest ABSITE score and comes with a $500 award) – Yun Jee Kang, MD (80.4% correct and 98th percentile)

Medical Student Teaching Awards

PGY1     Ezra Brooks, MD

PGY2     Tom Martin, MD

PGY3     Cullen Roberts, MD

PGY4     Christine Wu, MD

PGY5     Elizabeth Yates, MD, MPH (The Robert T. Osteen Award for Medical Student Education in Surgery)

Faculty Student Teaching Award – Reza Askari, MD

Edward Kwasnik Award – James Etheridge, MD, MPH

Christine Weeks Schofield Award – John Gaspich, MD

Grant Rodkey Award – Katherine He, MD

Vollman Award (This award is voted by the faculty at Faulkner Hospital) – Cullen Roberts, MD

Star Thrower Award (This award is given by the administrative chiefs to the resident who has gone above and beyond) – Max Riley, MD

Francis D. Moore Award (This award is voted on by junior residents and presented to a senior resident) – Elizabeth Yates, MD, MPH

Donald J. Matson Award (This award is voted on by all the house staff and presented to a faculty member) – Matt Nehs, MD

Richard E. Wilson Award (This award is voted on by chief residents and presented to a faculty member) – Jiping Wang, MD, PhD, and Stanley Ashley, MD

Posted on

Department of Surgery Faculty Members Among Boston’s Top Doctors 2024

54 Department of Surgery faculty members have been named “Top Doctors” by Boston magazine this year.  Congratulations to the following providers for being recognized as the best in their respective fields.

COLON & RECTAL SURGERY

  • Ronald Bleday, MD
  • Joel Goldberg, MD
  • James Yoo, MD

PLASTIC SURGERY

  • Matthew Carty, MD
  • Yoon Chun, MD
  • Lydia Helliwell, MD
  • Dennis Orgill, MD
  • Andrea Pusic, MD, MS
  • Christian Sampson, MD (Hand Surgery)
  • Simon Talbot, MD

OTOLARYNGOLOGY

  • Donald Annino Jr., MD
  • Regan Bergmark, MD
  • Thomas Carroll, MD
  • Carleton Corrales, MD
  • Laura Goguen, MD
  • Stella Lee, MD
  • Alice Maxfield, MD
  • Anthony Prince, MD
  • Eleni Rettig, MD
  • Rachel Roditi, MD
  • Jennifer Shin, MD, SM
  • Ravindra Uppaluri, MD, PhD

SURGERY

  • Stanley Ashley, MD
  • Thomas Clancy, MD
  • Gerard Doherty, MD
  • Laura Dominici, MD
  • Hassan Khalil, MD
  • Tari King, MD
  • Sayeed Malek, MD
  • Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, MHCM
  • Faina Nakhlis, MD
  • Matthew Nehs, MD
  • Ko Un Clara Park, MD
  • Chandrajit Raut, MD, MSc
  • Esther Rhei, MD
  • Douglas Smink, MD, MPH
  • Ali Tavakkoli, MD
  • Ashley Vernon, MD

THORACIC & CARDIAC SURGERY

  • Raphael Bueno, MD
  • Christopher Ducko, MD
  • Amy Hackmann, MD
  • Hassan Khalil, MD
  • Ciaran McNamee, MD
  • Steven Mentzer, MD
  • Matthew Rochefort, MD
  • Scott Swanson, MD
  • George Tolis Jr., MD
  • John Wain, MD
  • Jon Wee, MD
  • Daniel Wiener, MD

VASCULAR SURGERY

  • Michael Belkin, MD
  • Edwin Gravereaux, MD
  • Matthew Menard, MD
  • Louis Nguyen, MD, MPH, MBA
  • Charles Ozaki, MD