Category: New Faculty

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Kudsi as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

O. Yusef Kudsi, MD, MBA
Associate Surgeon, Part-time, Division of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery

Dr. Kudsi earned his medical degree from the University of Aleppo in Syria, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in tissue engineering at the Brigham, a surgical residency at Lankenau Medical Center, a minimally invasive surgery (MIS) fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and an advanced MIS travelling fellowship at IRCAD Institute and the University Hospital of Strasbourg in France. He pursued an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship and co-founded DigitalSurgical, which has its own patented technology in intra-operative real-time 3D micrometer scanning and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Kudsi has performed over 3,500 robotic surgeries, assisted in setting up robotic programs in the Americas, Europe, and Asia and has taught hernia surgery to over 1,000 surgeons. Throughout his career, he has assumed prominent leadership roles at Clinical Robotic Surgery Association (CRSA), the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and the Association for Surgical Education (ASE). He founded the Robotic Surgery Collaboration (RSC), a vicarious learning platform that brings together more than 10,000 surgeons to discuss the latest in robotic surgery and to learn how to effectively integrate robotic surgery at their institutions, and he has organized numerous international summits.

Dr. Kudsi also established an accredited MIS fellowship and a funded clinical research fellowship focused on abdominal wall reconstruction, robotic and artificial intelligence surgery. He has written over 100 original peer reviewed articles, abstracts and book chapters and is the editor of five robotic textbooks with over 100 national and international presentations.

Dr. Kudsi’s clinical interests include robotic complex abdominal wall reconstruction and abdominal core health. His research interests include machine learning, artificial intelligence and digital surgery.

Please join us in welcoming Tommaso Hinna Danesi, MD, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Tommaso Hinna Danesi, MD
Associate Surgeon, Division of Cardiac Surgery
Section Chief, Valve Surgery
Director, Endoscopic Valvular Program

Dr. Hinna Danesi received his medical degree from the Università di Roma “La Sapienza” II Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia in Rome, Italy, where he also completed cardiac surgery residency training. He completed a fellowship in cardiac surgery and a fellowship in minimally invasive cardiac surgery at Hospital San Bortolo in Vicenza, Italy, one of the highest volume centers for endoscopic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery across Europe.

Before joining the Brigham, Dr. Hinna Danesi worked as a senior cardiac surgeon and director of the Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery Program at Hospital San Bortolo. He was also an associate professor of surgery, an attending cardiac surgeon and the director of the Endoscopic and Advanced Valvular Cardiac Surgery Program at the University of Cincinnati Medical School. At the Brigham, he will serve as section chief of Valve Surgery and director of the Endoscopic Valvular Program.

Dr. Hinna Danesi is author and co-author of several indexed publications, as well as author of several chapters in internationally adopted medical textbooks. He is involved as a faculty member and speaker at international meetings for some of the most influential scientific societies, including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the Endoscopic Cardiac Surgeons Club (ECS Club).  He is also an international proctor for sutureless, rapid deployment aortic prosthesis and mitral valve repair devices.

Dr. Hinna Danesi’s clinical and research interests include endoscopic and minimally invasive valve repair and replacement, endoscopic structural heart defects surgery, thoracoscopic cardiac surgery, endoscopic and thoracoscopic atrial fibrillation surgical treatment, adult standard cardiac surgery, and percutaneous valve repair and replacement. His research activity is focused on heart valve disease, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and advanced cardiovascular imaging.

Dr. Hinna Danesi performed the first endoscopic aortic valve replacement in North America and the first U.S. endoscopic triple valve surgery, as well as the first minimally invasive video-guided convergent procedure for atrial fibrillation treatment.

Please join us in welcoming Sara Poorfarahani Myers, MD, PhD, MS, MA, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Sara Poorfarahani Myers, MD, PhD, MS, MA
Associate Surgeon, Division of Breast Surgery

Dr. Myers received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical languages from Stanford University. She completed medical school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine and holds a master’s degree in biology from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. She completed general surgery residency at UPMC, during which time she obtained her PhD in clinical and translational science from the Institute of Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

Before joining the Brigham, Dr. Myers completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is a member of the Association for Academic Surgeons, the Association of Women Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology and the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Myers’ clinical and academic interests include utilizing health services and qualitative research methodologies to improve outcomes and mitigate disparities for adolescent and young adult women with breast cancer.