Global Surgery

Our research is focused on evaluating the role surgical care plays in the delivery of health services in resource poor settings, in particular low and middle income countries. I am interested in barriers to access and provision of surgical care, the quality of surgical services, and outcomes research.

Our projects focus on the quality of surgical care and strategies for improving the safety and reliability of surgical delivery. 

My current projects focus on the quality of surgical care and strategies for improving the safety and reliability of surgical delivery in resource poor settings. We are working with hospitals in Ethiopia and Cambodia on a surgical infection prevention and control program in conjunction with Lifebox, a nonprofit focused on improving surgical safety worldwide. I have been involved in surgical program assessment projects in Cambodia, India, the UK, and the United States. From 2006-2009 I was part of the World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives program where we quantified the global volume of surgery and created, implemented, evaluated, and promoted the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist.

The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is a tool used during surgery to improve communication between surgeons, anesthesiologists, and operating room nurses. Its use has been demonstrated to reduce complications in patients around the world.