Surgery, Anesthesia, Peri-Operative Care

Surgery, Anesthesia, Peri-Operative Care

Address the 1.7 billon children lacking access to safe surgery

Access to safe, quality surgical and peri-operative care is a global priority for children. One unexpected surgical procedure can bankrupt an entire family forcing them to sell land and risk generational wealth to seek care for their child that is unavailable or often low quality. The Margaret C. Ryan Global Health Program peri-operative care team, including surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and operating room staff are working together with partners to implement new solutions to ensuring sustainable safe surgery for children through capacity development, improvement in operational systems and new innovations that break down the cost and quality barriers.

Mission

To partner with Ministries of Health, Teaching Hospitals and Universities to build surgical workforce. Rapid workforce increase are implemented by training general or adult surgeons and anesthesiologist how to perform pediatric procedures and care for children, while longer term sustainable solutions including pediatric surgical and anesthesia fellowships are put into place. Excellence in nursing is built combining in-service training for working professionals and formal nurse specialty training. As interprofessional and multidisciplinary teams we work together to improve hospital systems to deliver pediatric surgical care.

‍Program Streams

  • Training in pediatric surgery and surgicalspecialties
  • Peri-operative care nursing workforcedevelopment
  • Anesthesia capacity building and formal trainingprograms

Surgery, Anesthesia, Peri-Operative Care Projects

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Pediatric Anesthesia Training in Africa‍

To address the critical shortage of pediatric anesthesiologists in Africa, the Paediatric Anaesthesia Training in Africa (PATA) Collaborative focuses on building local capacity through fellowship programs and intensive training

Global Cardiac Nursing Support in Kenya

Christine Placidi, a Global Nursing Fellow, partnered with a BCH cardiac surgeon in Bomet, Kenya, to perform pediatric cardiac surgeries and provide educational resources, while offering ongoing support via WhatsApp to help establish a self-sustained program.

Enhancing Neurosurgical Care in Antigua and Barbuda

Due to severe neurosurgical care shortages in the Caribbean, Carly Campbell traveled to Antigua and Barbuda as part of her Global Nursing Fellowship to assist a team of surgeons in performing neurological surgeries, assess local needs, and develop strategies for sustainable improvements in care and education.
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Surgery, Anesthesia, Peri-Operative Care Team Members

Monica Langer, MD, MS

Dr. Monica Langer is a pediatric surgeon and the Director of Global Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  She works part-time at Bugando Medical Centre, in Mwanza, Tanzania, where she is supporting their clinical work and a pediatric surgery fellowship program starting in January 2025.  Prior to working in Tanzania, she supported the clinical service and fellowship program in Uganda as external faculty, helping train 9 pediatric general surgeons and working with the local team on clinical research over 11 years.  She is the vice-chair of the Global Health committee at the American Pediatric Surgical Association, and a member of the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery and the Global Committee for the Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgeons.  She has experience in advocacy work with the G4 Alliance and currently is doing clinical research focused on improving outcomes for neonates and children with surgical diseases in LMICs.

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Monica Langer, MD, MS
Director, Global Surgery, Global Health Program