Upstate names new pediatric surgery chief
SYRACUSE, N.Y.--Andreas H. Meier, M.D., M.Ed, a pediatric surgeon with special interest in minimally invasive pediatric surgery, has joined Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital as division chief of pediatric surgery and director of the Olivia Louise Pietrafesa Center for Children’s Surgery. He also serves as an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at Upstate Medical University.
His academic interests focus on novel approaches to surgical education, including the use of simulation in surgical curricula and team training.
Meier succeeds Michael Ratner, M.D., who retired from clinical practice this summer.
Meier comes to Upstate from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where he was an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics, chair of the division of pediatric surgery and medical director of the Surgical Skills and Research Laboratory.
He acquired his medical degree from Ludwig Maximilian University School of Medicine in Munich, Germany, a doctoral degree in medicine from Technical University School of Medicine in Munich, Germany, and a master’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign. His residency in general surgery was completed at Stanford University, where he served as chief resident. He completed a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Emory University in Atlanta. He also completed two research fellowships in surgical oncology and advanced technology in surgery at Stanford University.
Meier has contributed extensively to the scientific literature, writing about numerous surgical specialty techniques for both the pediatric and adult patient. Most recently he was the principal investigator of an educational study, funded by the American College of Surgeons, that assisted surgical educators on ways to establish a team training program through the use of tested simulation scenarios.
A member of several professional societies and academies, he has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals, including the American Journal of Surgery, the Journal of Surgical Research, the European Journal of Pediatrics and the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. He is an associate editor for the Journal of Simulation in Healthcare.
Meier resides in Syracuse.
The Olivia Louise Pietrafesa Center for Children's Surgery offers surgical services for children from birth to 18 years and is designed to be child- and family-friendly. In addition to its cheerful decor and child-sized surroundings, the center takes a more relaxed approach to certain hospital policies, such as visitation and parental involvement in preoperative and recovery care. For instance, anesthesia is delivered in an soothing setting, where parents are welcome, and child-life specialists are available to help reduce anxiety.
