Synopsis:

Multi-disciplinary care is vital for the treatment of complex patients, especially those with rare diseases. The benefits of multi-disciplinary collaboration go beyond clinical outcomes and include research.

Using the care of children with cloacal malformations as an example, we demonstrate how multi-disciplinary care improves outcomes for our patients and those we will never meet.

Speaker:

Professor Richard Wood is a pediatric surgeon.  He is Chief of the Department of Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Reconstruction at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Professor of Surgery at The Ohio State University. He trained in General Surgery in the United Kingdom and South Africa and completed his Pediatric Surgery training at the Red Cross Children’s Memorial Hospital in Cape Town. He subsequently completed a Pediatric Colorectal Fellowship at Nationwide Children’s. Professor Wood’s areas of interest are complex pelvic reconstructive surgery, including anorectal malformations, cloacal malformations and Hirschsprung disease. His research interests focus on clinical colorectal and outcomes research. Prof Wood is on the Executive and Steering Committee of the Pediatric Colorectal and Pelvic Learning Consortium (PCPLC) which is an international consortium of surgeons performing multi-center research in this field.