Richard Hodin, MD

Chief for Academic Affairs, Department of Surgery,
Surgical Director, Inflammatory Bowel Disease,
Chief of Endocrine Surgery,
Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Surgery,
Harvard Medical School

“The culture was intensely focused on providing the best patient care possible and I’ve always tried to maintain that focus"

Of all the high-profile professional achievements that alumnus Richard Hodin, MD, has earned during his career — and there are a great many — those he covets the most are the faculty teaching awards he received from surgical residents, which he prominently displays on the wall of his office at Massachusetts General Hospital.

One is the Harold Bengloff Housestaff Teaching Award, which Hodin — formerly on the faculty of the BIDMC Department of Surgery — received in 1995 for being “the faculty member who best exemplifies humanism in teaching.” The other he received last year from the graduating class of surgical residents at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where Hodin has been on the faculty since 2001. Of the many roles Hodin has across the realms of clinical care, research, and teaching, “My favorite is mentoring young doctors and helping them take off in their careers,” he says.

In addition to his teaching activities, Hodin is Chief of Endocrine Surgery at MGH — one of the largest endocrine surgery programs in the U.S. — as well as Surgical Director of the hospital’s large, federally funded Crohn’s and Colitis Center.

He is also Director of a National Institutes of Health T32 Research Training Grant, a five-year, Harvard-wide program that gives surgical residents the opportunity to take two years off during their training to engage in basic and clinical gastrointestinal (GI) tract research with faculty in the Harvard teaching hospitals. BIDMC surgical resident Yue-Yung Hu, MD, MPH, is one of the residents currently participating in this program.

High standards

Hodin became interested in both endocrine surgery and GI surgery — distinctly different areas of surgery — during his residency training. “A major influence on my decision to pursue these areas was Dr. Bill Silen [then Chief of Surgery at Beth Israel Hospital], who excelled at both,” he says. Silen and the residency program influenced Hodin in other ways, as well. “The culture was intensely focused on providing the best patient care possible and I’ve always tried to maintain that focus,” he says. “It was a credit to Dr. Silen, who held himself and others — residents and faculty alike — to extremely high standards.”

Interested in a career as an academic surgeon, Hodin completed a two-year research fellowship in genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital during his residency. Following a transitional year as a Super Chief, in 1990 Hodin was invited to join the BIDMC Department of Surgery as a faculty member. Over the next 11 years, he was a well-liked and highly regarded member of the department who served in numerous leadership positions, including Vice-Chairman of the Department and Surgical Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center.

Today, Hodin devotes about one-fourth of his time to research. His work is focused, in part, on better understanding the GI tract with the goal of helping prevent or treat a variety of gut-associated diseases, including IBD.

Hodin became interested in both endocrine surgery and GI surgery — distinctly different areas of surgery — during his residency training. “A major influence on my decision to pursue these areas was Dr. Bill Silen [then Chief of Surgery at Beth Israel Hospital], who excelled at both,” he says. Silen and the residency program influenced Hodin in other ways, as well. “The culture was intensely focused on providing the best patient care possible and I’ve always tried to maintain that focus,” he says. “It was a credit to Dr. Silen, who held himself and others — residents and faculty alike — to extremely high standards.” Interested in a career as an academic surgeon, Hodin completed a two-year research fellowship in genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital during his residency. Following a transitional year as a Super Chief, in 1990 Hodin was invited to join the BIDMC Department of Surgery as a faculty member. Over the next 11 years, he was a well-liked and highly regarded member of the department who served in numerous leadership positions, including Vice-Chairman of the Department and Surgical Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center. Today, Hodin devotes about one-fourth of his time to research. His work is focused, in part, on better understanding the GI tract with the goal of helping prevent or treat a variety of gut-associated diseases, including IBD.

Potential novel treatment

“We’re studying the GI tract and how it interacts with the bacteria we have to live with, and applying that knowledge to develop new treatments to promote the good bacteria,” he says. This research has helped pave the way toward a potential novel treatment (intestinal alkaline phosphate, or IAP, a naturally occurring enzyme) for patients with IBD, which will hopefully be in clinical trials within the next few years. A prolific researcher, Hodin, a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School since 2005, has had more than 115 peer-reviewed papers published.

As if these commitments don’t keep him busy enough, Hodin has held or holds leadership positions in many prestigious professional societies, including serving as former president of the Society of University Surgeons and recently as the Chair of a NIH Study Section.