David Hackam appointed new chief of pediatric surgery

Dear Colleagues:

We are delighted to announce that David Hackam, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally renowned and award-winning pediatric surgeon and researcher recognized for his groundbreaking studies of intestinal inflammation and injury in infants, will be joining us as the new chief of pediatric surgery at Johns Hopkins.

In September, Dr. Hackam will become the Robert Garrett Professor of Pediatric Surgery, the position held by the children's surgeon-in-charge at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He will also hold professorships in oncology and pediatrics, and he will collaborate closely with George Dover to help manage The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center's multifaceted clinical and research centers as co-functional unit director.

Paul Colombani, who has held the Garrett Professorship since 1991, is now the head of pediatric surgery at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. We wish to express our profound thanks to him for his extraordinary service as children's surgeon-in-charge at The Johns Hopkins Hospital over the past 23 years. We also are exceptionally pleased that in his new position, he will be available to work closely with Dr. Hackam in fostering interhospital collaborations between Johns Hopkins and All Children's.

Currently, Dr. Hackam is professor of surgery, associate professor of cell biology and physiology, and director of the Center for Pediatric Surgical, Translational, and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine faculty as an assistant professor in 2002 and rose swiftly through the academic ranks, becoming Watson Family Professor of Surgery and a professor of cell biology and physiology in 2010. 

In 2004, Dr. Hackam became co-director of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center. In 2011, he was named the university's associate dean for medical student research. He became president of the Society of University Surgeons this year.

Along with John March of Cornell University, Dr. Hackam was awarded the 2011 Biomedical Research Collaboration Award for their joint effort to determine the feasibility of developing an artificial intestine for the treatment of short bowel syndrome in children.

A native of Stafford, England, Dr. Hackam earned his medical degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1992 and his Ph.D. in cell biology at the University of Toronto in 1998. After completing his internship and residency at Toronto General Hospital, he became a fellow in pediatric surgery at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2000.

We believe he will be a wonderful addition to the Department of Surgery, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Jonathan Efron, M.D.
Interim Director, Department of Surgery
The Johns Hopkins Hospital