News and updates from the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital
The following Department of Surgery faculty members were recently promoted.
Lydia Helliwell, MD, to assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Jason Liu, MD, MS, to assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Matthew Nehs, MD, to associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Cole was awarded the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) Physician Research Award for “The BRIDGE Project: Broadening the Reach of Imaging, Diagnostics, and Genetic Evaluation.”
This project aims to assess race-based differences in receipt of advanced testing (incorporating both advanced imaging and molecular testing) and targeted interventions (incorporating image-guided therapeutics and molecular-targeted therapies) among Black men at risk for prostate cancer.
Alexander Cole, MD
Associate Surgeon, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery
Co-Leader, Aquilon Lab, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Cole is an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, associate surgeon in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Urology and junior core faculty at the Center for Surgery and Public Health.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Harvard College and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He underwent training in general surgery and completed his urology residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and pursued a research fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Center for Surgery and Public Health. Dr. Cole further specialized in urologic oncology and image-guided therapeutics through a clinical fellowship, which included surgical oncology training at the Brigham/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a fellowship with a focal therapy team at the University College London.
Dr. Cole’s research focuses on health systems and health care delivery models, particularly for underserved minority populations. He has published over 120 journal articles and two book chapters and presented numerous abstracts at national and international meetings. His contributions have been recognized with several awards, including two Max Willscher Research Awards from the New England Section of the American Urological Association. In 2019, Dr. Cole was the New England urologist chosen to represent the region at the Early Career Investigators Showcase at AUA 2020. Most recently, in 2022, he was awarded the Bruce A. Beal and Robert L. Beal Surgical Fellowship from the Department of Surgery.
In his capacity as faculty in the Division of Urology and the Center for Surgery and Public health, he serves as co-leader of the Aquilon Lab, a research team founded by Dr. Quoc-Dien Trinh. The lab holds a mixture of internal and external funding, including the Department of Defense and American Cancer Society, and consists of a core group of 3-4 research fellows from the Center for Surgery and Public Health and the Division of Urology.
Dr. Cole’s clinical focus is the treatment of genitourinary malignancies, with a focus on diagnostics and image-guided therapeutics for prostate cancer.
The following recipients were recently honored with awards at the Final Service Conference.
Surgery Class of ’63 Scholar – Frances Hu, MD, MSc
Murray – Simonian Award – Megan Sulciner, MD, and Charles Serhan, PhD
Surgical Oncology Research Award – Megan Sulciner, MD
PBB Scholar Award (This award is the highest ABSITE score and comes with a $500 award) – Alexander Ordoobadi, MD
Medical Student Teaching Awards
PGY1 John Gaspich, MD
PGY2 Orly Farber, MD, and Joshua Roshal, MD
PGY3 Alex Ordoobadi, MD
PGY4 Liz Yates, MD
PGY5 Joshua Jolissaint, MD, MSc (The Robert T. Osteen Award for Medical Student Education in Surgery)
Edward Kwasnik Award – Sourav Bose, MD, MSc
Christine Weeks Schofield Award – Jordan Forte, MD
Grant Rodkey Award – Sourav Bose, MD, MSc
Vollman Award (This award is voted by the faculty at Faulkner Hospital) – Alex Ordoobadi, MD
Star Thrower Award (This award is given by the administrative chiefs to the resident who has gone above and beyond) – Christine Wu, MD
Francis D. Moore Award (This award is voted on by junior residents and presented to a senior resident) – Adam Fields, MD
Donald J. Matson Award (This award is voted on by all the house staff and presented to a faculty member) – Nakul Raykar, MD, MPH
Richard E. Wilson Award (This award is voted on by chief residents and presented to a faculty member) – Naomi Shimizu, MD