Sroussi and Treister Awarded $3.7M National Institutes of Health Grant to Study Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease

Herve Y. Sroussi, DMD, PhD and Nathaniel S. Treister, DMD, DMSc, of the Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have been awarded a $3.7M National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 Grant for their study entitled “Long-Term Oral Health Outcomes in the Chronic GVHD Consortium.”

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a complex immune-mediated disease commonly seen in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. cGVHD can severely affect the health of numerous organ systems including the oral cavity, one of its most common and significantly affected targets. This study will explore the long-term effects of cGVHD on oral health with the ultimate goal of improving the patients’ quality of life and maximizing treatment effectiveness and outcomes.

Drs. Sroussi and Treister will serve as co-principal investigators on the study which is a collaboration between the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington School of Dentistry in Seattle, WA.

Herve Y. Sroussi, DMD, PhD
Director for Research, Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Oral Medicine, Infection, and Immunity, Harvard School of Dentist Medicine

Dr. Herve Sroussi is the director for research in the Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is as an associate surgeon at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and an associate professor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. Sroussi earned his dental degree from The Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine. He completed an oral medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry (UCSF) and he is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Medicine. Dr. Sroussi completed a PhD in Oral Science at UCSF in the field of mucosal immunology and virology.

Dr. Sroussi was a recipient of a NIH Dentist Scientist Award and K22 Career Award.

Before joining Brigham and Women’s, he was the director of the Oral Medicine Clinic, the director for graduate studies, and an associate professor with tenure and at the University of Illinois College of Dentistry in Chicago, IL.

Dr. Sroussi’s research is primarily focused in the field of oral mucosal infection and immunity with an emphasis on innate immunology and immune suppression.

Nathaniel S. Treister, DMD, DMSc
Chief, Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Oral Medicine, Infection, and Immunity, Harvard School of Dentist Medicine

Dr. Nathaniel S. Treister is the chief of the Division of Oral Medicine and Dentistry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Treister also serves as an associate surgeon at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and is a consulting staff member of Boston Children’s Hospital. He is an associate professor at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. Treister earned his dental degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He completed an oral medicine residency at Harvard School of Dental Medicine/BWH and is board certified in oral medicine. Dr. Treister’s primary clinical interests include oral mucosal diseases and oral complications of cancer therapy and, in particular, graft-versus-host disease.

Dr. Treister’s research is primarily focused in the field of oral complications related to cancer therapies, with particular interest in hematopoietic cell transplantation, mucositis and graft-versus-host disease. The goal of his research is to better understand the underlying pathology of these oral complications and how best to manage and improve outcomes. His work has been supported by the Children’s Oncology Group and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research as well as through internal institutional funding.

Cooper Earns NPCRC Pilot & Exploratory Project Support Grant

Zara Cooper, MD, MSc, FACS, Kessler Director for the Center for Surgery and Public Health, was awarded a Pilot & Exploratory Project Support Grant from the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC) for her project entitled “The Trauma Dyad: Tending to Caregivers of Injured Frail Elders.”

This award provides funding for investigators performing pilot/exploratory studies whose purpose is to test interventions, develop research methodologies or explore novel areas of research that are directly related to the NPCRC’s mission and areas of interest.

Cooper’s study will survey informal caregivers of older patients who have experienced traumatic injury to examine the social, emotional and physical effects of providing informal care. She and her colleagues will conduct surveys and interviews at two timepoints after patient discharge to collect data on modifiable factors that can reduce burden in this population.

The mission of the NPCRC is to strengthen the evidence-based foundation needed for health policy and clinical practice in palliative care medicine by growing and supporting the community of palliative care research scientists and stimulating expanded research and innovation.

Zara Cooper, MD, MSc, FACS
Kessler Director, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

An acute care surgeon, trauma surgeon and surgical intensivist, Cooper focuses her broader research on identifying ways 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 more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, chapters, and abstracts and lectures about surgical care in complex older patients.

Welcoming New Faculty – M. Blair Marshall, MD, FACS

Please join us in welcoming M. Blair Marshall, MD, FACS, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

M. Blair Marshall, MD, FACS

M. Blair Marshall, MD, FACS
Associate Surgeon, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Dr. Marshall is a graduate of Brown University and received her medical degree from Georgetown Medical School, where she also completed a residency in General Surgery. Dr. Marshall completed both a Cardiothoracic Surgery fellowship and General Thoracic fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. She is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

Most recently, Dr. Marshall was chief of Thoracic Surgery at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital where she received the outstanding faculty teaching award on multiple occasions. She is currently the editor of Thoracic Surgery Clinics and the thoracic editor of Operative Techniques in Thoracic Surgery.

Her research and clinical interests include: minimally invasive and robotic techniques for complex thoracic procedures, simulation, surgical education, surgical videos and patient safety.