Gerard Doherty

Gerard Doherty, MD, will join Brigham and Women’s Health Care as chair of the Department of Surgery, effective Oct. 1.

An acclaimed endocrine surgeon, Doherty comes to the Brigham from Boston Medical Center, where he is surgeon-in-chief, and Boston University, where he is the Utley professor and chair of Surgery. Since joining BU and BMC in 2012, his primary focus has been on meeting the diverse needs of the Boston community, as well as those of the students and residents who train there.

“We are delighted that Dr. Doherty will join the Brigham to lead the Department of Surgery,” said BWHC President Betsy Nabel, MD.  “A transformative and caring leader, he brings significant experience that will deepen and expand our superb surgical programs.”

Doherty has dedicated his career to patient care and has practiced in surgical oncology, focusing his efforts to advance the care of patients with endocrine tumors. He has been active in clinical trials at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University in St. Louis and at the University of Michigan Cancer Center.

A graduate of Holy Cross and the Yale School of Medicine, Doherty completed residency training at the University of California San Francisco and a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.

He joined Washington School of Medicine in 1993 and became a professor of Surgery in 2001. The following year, he joined the University of Michigan faculty as the Norman Thompson professor of Surgery, where he focused mainly on surgical diseases of the thyroid and parathyroid, endocrine pancreas and adrenal glands. His focus there also included the surgical management of multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes.

Doherty has written more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters, in addition to having edited several books.

Doherty succeeds Michael J. Zinner, MD, who left BWH to become founding CEO of Miami Cancer Institute earlier this year. Francis “Chip” Moore, MD, has since served as interim chair of the department.