Committee on Academic Advancement Self Nomination for John Hwabejire

I am requesting your support in serving on the Clinical and Health Services Research Committee of the AAS. I serve as the Director of Research in the Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School. My research is focused on older adult patients who either suffered traumatic injuries or undergo emergency general Surgery. With the projected increase in the older adult population and the corresponding increase in demand for emergent surgical procedures in this population, there is an urgent need to redefine how geriatric emergent surgical care is delivered. Many older patients are denied the opportunity to have lifesaving and function-improving emergency surgery. Conversely, many older adult patients are subjected to futile emergency surgery. Through my work, we are beginning to understand which older adult patients benefit from emergency general surgery; which combination of factors leads to futile surgery and should be avoided; and what the prognoses are in these patients, so that they and their family can make truly informed choices. Through institutional research funding, I created a unique and first-of-its kind Geriatric Emergency General Surgery (G-EGS) research database, solely dedicated to clinical and functional outcomes in older adult patients. Since I was appointed Assistant Professor at HMS, I have produced 56 peer-reviewed publications, resulting in a total of 90 peer-reviewed manuscripts. If given the opportunity, I promise to work with other members of this Committee to make the AAS a platform that truly supports researchers.

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