Susan L Gearhart, M.D.

Early in her career as a surgeon, Susan Gearhart became interested in the surgical management of complex clinical problems in inflammatory bowel disease. Specifically, her work has focused on the diagnosis and management of dysplasia and cancer in inflammatory bowel disease. This work, in collaboration with colleagues in gastroenterology, pathology and radiology, has led to changes in the clinical management of this disease at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In a similar fashion, working with a multidisciplinary team, Dr. Gearhart helped develop a model for perianal Crohn’s disease in pigs and rodents. This work was funded through a grant from the Helmsley Foundation, for which she is a co-investigator. Dr. Gearhart introduced the use of a stem cell graft of umbilical cord for the management of rectovaginal fistula, and performed a phase I trial. This work was presented at a national meeting and published in the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons journal. In addition, Dr. Gearhart has collaborated with radiology colleagues to improve imaging modalities for the diagnosis and management of perianal Crohn’s disease and pelvic neoplasms, which has led to a more focused approach to the initial evaluation of these patients.  Dr. Gearhart serves as the surgeon champion for the National Surgery Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP). She has been instrumental in partnering with the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and NSQIP to implement new quality initiatives at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, including the surgery Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program and the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery program. Under Dr. Gearhart’s guidance, Johns Hopkins Bayview served as a pilot site for the ACS geriatric surgery program. This work was supported by an Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality grant. Implementation of these programs has improved outcomes for surgical patients at Johns Hopkins Bayview, and these outcomes have been reported in peer-reviewed publications. For her collaborative work on implementation of clinical pathways, Dr. Gearhart’s team was awarded the Clinical Excellence in Teamwork Award for 2017.