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Welcoming New Faculty – Akinobu Itoh, MD, PhD

Please join us in welcoming Akinobu Itoh, MD, PhD, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Akinobu Itoh, MD, PhD
Associate Surgeon, Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery
Surgical Director, Heart Transplantation and Mechanical and Circulatory Support

Dr. Itoh received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the Tohoku University School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan. He completed resident training in general surgery and cardiovascular surgery at the NTT Medical Center in Tokyo and a fellowship in cardiovascular surgery at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan. Subsequently, he completed a fellowship in cardiovascular surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada and a fellowship in transplant/heart failure at Toronto General Hospital. In 2013, he joined Washington University School of Medicine/Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a faculty member. Dr. Itoh also holds a PhD in cardiac valve physiology and pathology from Tohoku University.

Before coming to the Brigham, Dr. Itoh was an associate professor of surgery, surgical director of the Heart Transplant and Ventricular Assist Device Program and director of the Surgical Heart Failure Fellowship Program at the Washington University School of Medicine, as well as co-director of the Barnes-Jewish ECMO Program. At the Brigham, Dr. Itoh will also be serving as surgical director of Heart Transplantation and Mechanical and Circulatory Support for the Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery.

Dr. Itoh’s main clinical focus is on orthotopic heart transplant and mechanical assist device surgery. He also takes care of high-risk, complex aortic and mitral valve surgeries, as well as aortic dissection and aneurysm. Low ejection fraction coronary artery revascularization surgery, with mechanical circulatory assist is another area of his clinical interest. His clinical and translational research concerns are heart failure and the clinical impact of valvular surgery concomitant with mechanical assist device implantation and reverse remodeling in mechanically unloaded condition. He’s also interested in the clinical outcomes of acute circulatory support, with extracorporeal oxygen membrane circulatory support and other mechanical circulatory support devices, such as the intra-aortic balloon pump and the Impella device. Based upon his previous research experience in valvular/ventricular physiology and transesophageal echocardiography, he would like to contribute to the development of the clinical and translational research in the heart failure field.

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Mark Fairweather, MD, Named Associate Program Director of the Brigham General Surgery Residency Program

Mark Fairweather, MD, has been named associate program director for the Brigham General Surgery Residency Program focusing on resident research development and surgical curriculum.

Mark Fairweather, MD
Associate Surgeon, Division of Surgical Oncology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Program Director, General Surgery Residency Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Fairweather is a graduate of Hanover College and received his medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He completed a residency in general surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed by a fellowship in complex general surgical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Fairweather’s clinical interests include cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and soft-tissue sarcomas.  In addition to research on treatment outcomes for sarcoma, including retroperitoneal sarcomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors, he also serves as an executive officer for the Alliance Foundation Trials, LLC (AFT), where his work focuses on developing and validating methods of capturing high-quality real-world data alongside ongoing clinical trials.

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Joel Adler, MD, MPH, Named Associate Program Director of the Brigham General Surgery Residency Program and Fellowship Director at the Center for Surgery and Public Health

Joel Adler, MD, MPH, has been named associate program director for the Brigham General Surgery Residency Program focusing on resident research development, specifically for Health Services and Outcomes Research. In addition, he has been appointed fellowship director at the Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH), a joint initiative of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Joel Adler, MD, MPH
Associate Surgeon, Division of Transplant Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Program Director, General Surgery Residency Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Fellowship Director, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Adler is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, where he also received his medical degree. He completed an MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed a general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a fellowship in abdominal transplantation at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

His clinical interests include kidney and pancreas transplantation, with an interest in living donation and highly sensitized transplant recipients. His research interests include population and public health-based improvements to improve access to transplantation.