We are a full service academic department committed to the integrated delivery of exceptional clinical care consistent with the research and educational goals of Harvard Medical School. We are committed to excellence in patient care without discrimination, education of leaders in surgery and its subspecialties, and the support, nurturing and maintenance of research through the collaborative efforts of our faculty, residents, fellows, students and staff.
The Department of Surgery offers a wide range of high-quality services to its referring physicians and their patients. The divisions' specialty centers, services and programs provide diagnostic procedures and surgical therapies using state-of-the-art techniques. Divisions within the Department of Surgery include:
Patients seeking information about the hospital, or wishing to schedule an appointment with a BWH physician should call the Patient Referral Service number at 1-800-BWH-9999 (1-800-294-9999). You can also access our surgeons via the web, using the Partners Online Specialty Consultation feature.
Mission Statement
The Department of Surgery at Brigham & Women's Hospital strives to set the standard of excellence in surgical patient care, education, and research.
Our Goals
- Providing high quality, state-of-the-art, patient-centered, and cost-effective clinical care
- Becoming a national leader in clinical, basic science, and translational research
- Training the next generation of surgeons and surgical leaders
- Securing the internal and external resources necessary to support these tripartite goals
History and Milestones
Brigham and Women's Hospital was formed in 1980 as a result of the merger between the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and the Boston Hospital for Women. Over the years, BWH surgeons have been instrumental in a number of historical milestones.
- 1923 - The first successful heart valve surgery in the world is performed at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital by Dr. Eliot Cutler.
- 1931- Harvey Cushing, MD, the father of modern neurosurgery, performs his 2,000th brain surgery while serving as chief of Surgery (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
- 1954 - The first successful human organ transplant, a kidney transplanted from one identical twin to another, is accomplished. In 1990, Joseph Murray, MD, receives the Nobel Prize for this work and the subsequent development of immunosuppressive drugs (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital).
- 1984 - The first heart transplant in New England
- 1992 - BWH performs the first heart-lung transplant in Massachusetts.
- 1994 - BWH unveils the world's first Intra-Operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging System. This invention, which enables clinicians to take images of the body's interior during surgery, makes it possible to cure patients with brain tumors that previously were considered inoperable.
- 1995 - BWH performs the nation's first triple organ transplant, removing three organs from a single donor-two lungs and a heart-and transplanting them into three patients, giving each a new lease on life.
- 1996 - BWH becomes one of only 10 hospitals in the country to perform "minimally invasive" aortic valve surgery.
- 2000 - In what is believed to be a "first" in organ transplantation, BWH performs a quadruple transplant. Harvesting four organs from a single donor - a kidney, two lungs and a heart - hospital surgeons give new hope to four patients.
- 2001 - The first to perform a complete operation on a patient with a surgeon directed, computer assisted robot in New England
- 2004 - BWH achieves another transplant "first". Hundreds of BWH staff - including doctors, nurses and intensive care staff - come in on their weekend time off to make possible five lung transplants in 36 hours.
- 2005 - BWH marked it’s 500th heart transplant in 2005, the most for any New England hospital. This historic operation adds BWH to an exclusive list of hospitals nationwide to reach this mark, according to the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS).
You can read "A Brief Surgical History of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital" in the April 2005 issue of Archives of Surgery. For a complete list of BWH milestones, please click here.
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