Category: New Faculty

Please join us in welcoming Tommaso Hinna Danesi, MD, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Tommaso Hinna Danesi, MD
Associate Surgeon, Division of Cardiac Surgery
Section Chief, Valve Surgery
Director, Endoscopic Valvular Program

Dr. Hinna Danesi received his medical degree from the Università di Roma “La Sapienza” II Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia in Rome, Italy, where he also completed cardiac surgery residency training. He completed a fellowship in cardiac surgery and a fellowship in minimally invasive cardiac surgery at Hospital San Bortolo in Vicenza, Italy, one of the highest volume centers for endoscopic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery across Europe.

Before joining the Brigham, Dr. Hinna Danesi worked as a senior cardiac surgeon and director of the Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery Program at Hospital San Bortolo. He was also an associate professor of surgery, an attending cardiac surgeon and the director of the Endoscopic and Advanced Valvular Cardiac Surgery Program at the University of Cincinnati Medical School. At the Brigham, he will serve as section chief of Valve Surgery and director of the Endoscopic Valvular Program.

Dr. Hinna Danesi is author and co-author of several indexed publications, as well as author of several chapters in internationally adopted medical textbooks. He is involved as a faculty member and speaker at international meetings for some of the most influential scientific societies, including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the Endoscopic Cardiac Surgeons Club (ECS Club).  He is also an international proctor for sutureless, rapid deployment aortic prosthesis and mitral valve repair devices.

Dr. Hinna Danesi’s clinical and research interests include endoscopic and minimally invasive valve repair and replacement, endoscopic structural heart defects surgery, thoracoscopic cardiac surgery, endoscopic and thoracoscopic atrial fibrillation surgical treatment, adult standard cardiac surgery, and percutaneous valve repair and replacement. His research activity is focused on heart valve disease, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and advanced cardiovascular imaging.

Dr. Hinna Danesi performed the first endoscopic aortic valve replacement in North America and the first U.S. endoscopic triple valve surgery, as well as the first minimally invasive video-guided convergent procedure for atrial fibrillation treatment.

Please join us in welcoming Sara Poorfarahani Myers, MD, PhD, MS, MA, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Sara Poorfarahani Myers, MD, PhD, MS, MA
Associate Surgeon, Division of Breast Surgery

Dr. Myers received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical languages from Stanford University. She completed medical school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine and holds a master’s degree in biology from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. She completed general surgery residency at UPMC, during which time she obtained her PhD in clinical and translational science from the Institute of Clinical Research Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

Before joining the Brigham, Dr. Myers completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is a member of the Association for Academic Surgeons, the Association of Women Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology and the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Myers’ clinical and academic interests include utilizing health services and qualitative research methodologies to improve outcomes and mitigate disparities for adolescent and young adult women with breast cancer.

Please join us in welcoming Elizabeth J. Lilley, MD, MPH, as a new faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

Elizabeth J. Lilley, MD, MPH
Associate Surgeon, Division of Surgical Oncology

Dr. Lilley received a Bachelor of Science in neuroscience from Lafayette College, an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and her medical degree from Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed general surgery residency training at Rutgers and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was an Arthur Tracy Cabot Research Fellow at the Brigham Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH). Subsequently, she completed the Harvard Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship and most recently, a complex general surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she was also the Chief Wellness Fellow.

Before joining the Brigham, Dr. Lilley was a clinical specialist at MD Anderson Cancer Center. At the Brigham, she will also work as a core faculty member for the CSPH and as an affiliate faculty member for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care.  In this role, she will continue her surgical palliative care health services research.

Dr. Lilley is co-chair of the Surgical Palliative Care Society (SPCS) Research and Quality Committee, chair-elect of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Perioperative and Surgical Interest Group, and a member of various professional institutions, including American Women Surgeons (AWS), the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS) and the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons (SAAS). She is the section editor of Palliative Care for the Global Medical Knowledge Alliance (GMKA) and a regular reviewer of JAMA Surgery, the Journal of Surgical Education, the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Palliative Medicine and Annals of Surgical Oncology.          

Dr. Lilley’s clinical areas of focus are gastrointestinal stromal tumors, extremity and retroperitoneal sarcoma and melanoma. Her research interests include perioperative symptom management, surgical decision-making, patient-centered quality metrics in palliative surgery, and supportive care needs of patients and caregivers.