Surgery News & Notes

Ali Salim, MD
BWH Distinguished Chair in Surgery
Associate Chair of Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery
Division Chief, Trauma, Burn and Surgical Critical Care
Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Salim is a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the Division of Trauma, Burn and Surgical Critical Care at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital. He leads a team of trauma specialists, providing expert, multidisciplinary care for thousands of trauma and burn patients each year.

Prior to joining the Brigham, Dr. Salim was an attending physician, program director of the General Surgery Residency Educational Program and director of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Duke University, a master’s degree from Columbia University and his medical degree from the Howard University College of Medicine. Dr. Salim completed his general surgery internship and residency, as well as his fellowship in Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.

Dr. Salim is both a traumatologist and a surgical intensivist at the Brigham. He is a clinically active trauma, general and critical care surgeon and devotes his time with equal intensity to research, surgical education and clinical service. His clinical interests focus on the care of the acutely ill trauma, emergency surgery and intensive care unit patient. Dr. Salim’s clinical research is focused on the care and outcomes of trauma patients, traumatic brain injury, improving the physiology of organ donors and improving the rate of organ donation. He has authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications. His most recent research has focused on the long-term patient reported outcomes following trauma.

Zara Cooper, MD, MSc
Michele and Howard J. Kessler Distinguished Chair in Surgery and Public Health
Kessler Director, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Chair, Executive Advisory Committee, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Health
Director, Center for Geriatric Surgery
Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Cooper is an acute care surgeon, trauma surgeon and surgical intensivist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she also serves as Kessler director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH), chair of the Executive Advisory Committee for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Health and director of the Center for Geriatric Surgery. Dr. Cooper is an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and adjunct faculty at the Marcus Institute for Aging Research. A graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Cooper completed her general surgery residency and critical care fellowship at the Brigham; a trauma fellowship at Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington; and training in hospice and palliative medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Brigham.

Her research aims to improve palliative and geriatric care for older seriously ill surgical patients. A national leader in surgical palliative care and geriatric trauma, she has authored over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, chapters, and abstracts and lectures nationally about surgical care in complex older patients.

Dr. Cooper is currently funded through the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC), the Department of Defense and is a co-investigator on multiple federally funded grants. She also serves on numerous editorial boards and committees for professional societies, Mass General Brigham and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is a member of the Brigham Health Board of Trustees.