The Burn Center is American Burn Association and American College of Surgeons-certified Level I burn and trauma center. Our Burn Center is one of the few burn centers nationwide where plastic surgeons are in charge of the burn patients. This characteristic highlights our commitment in achieving the highest level of excellence in functional and esthetic reconstruction for our burn patients. The unique background of our burn and plastic surgeons helps us envision future reconstructions that our patients will need even while our patients are in the initial acute stage of recovery.
With our distinctive approach, our Burn Center is therefore not only for acutely burned patients but also for anyone who has suffered from burn injury and is seeking a better functional and aesthetic outcome.
We are committed to serving our community, and we adopted a "no refusal" policy.
Treatments & Innovations
The Burn Center Operating Room.
Our Burn/Trauma intensive care unit consists of twelve state-of-the-art beds, each in individual room with precise temperature and air humidity control. The rooms are equipped with high output ceiling heaters, critical for burn patients’ care. Our neighboring neurological ICU is equipped with a CT scan directly in the unit, immediately available for our trauma and burn patients. The ICU capacity can be flexibly increased in the case of mass casualties up to 40 beds. We are currently in the process of expanding our facility in order to obtain an additional space for critical care patients.
Members of our team were in the laboratory at the time when the artificial skin (Integra™) was discovered, and basic research related to its applications is very active in our laboratories. We were involved in the initial clinical trials for the use of Trancyte ™ on patients with facial and hand burns. Our original discoveries also include the use of anabolic steroids in burn patients.
On April 9, 2009, our surgical team, under the leadership of Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, performed the first partial face transplant in New England and only the second performed in the United States.
Back to the Top
Outreach
Fire prevention has proven to have an enormous impact nationwide on reducing the number of burn casualties. In fact, the number of burn victims has been on a steady decline over the past decade.
We are experienced in providing both educational as well as "hands on" courses and lectures. Our community outreach effort centers on proper care for burn patients as well as prevention methods.
Listed below are some examples of lectures that we have provided in the past. We also tailor our lectures according to local community needs. Please contact us at 617-732-7796 for talks on any of the following topics.
- Initial burn care and resuscitation
- Current burn dressings and skin substitutes
- Burn reconstructions
- Disaster response and management
Back to the Top
Providers & Staff
Success of our Burn Center is made possible with the support of a strong, multi-disciplinary team including occupational therapists, physical therapists, dietitians, social workers, and skilled wound care staff.
Director
Bohdan Pomahac, MD -- Director
Past Directors
Dennis Orgill, MD, PhD -- Director
Robert Demling, MD -- Director of Research and Education
Burn / Trauma ICU
Thomas Edrich, MD
Gyorgy Frendl, MD, PhD
Jonathan Gates, MD
Peter Hou, MD
Edward Kelly, MD
Barrett Kitch, MD
Vihas Patel, MD
Amy Lynn Rezak, MD
Robert Riviello, MD, MPH
Selwyn Rogers, MD
Nicholas Sadovnikoff, MD
David Silver, MD
George Washko, Jr, MD
James Watkins, MD
Gerald Weinhouse, MD
Maxwell Weinmann, MD
Plastic Surgery
Dennis Orgill, MD, PhD -- Associate Chief
Eloff Eriksson, MD, PhD
Karl Breuing, MD
Lifei Guo, MD, PhD
Christian Sampson, MD
Julian Pribaz, MD
Nursing
Karyl Davenport, RN, Burn/Trauma Unit Nurse Manager
Social Services, Care Coordination
Elaine Devine, LICSW
Cheryl Ventola, RN
Occupational and Physical Therapy
Melanie Parker, PT
Laura Garren, OTR/L
Trauma / Burn Program
Yvonne Michaud, MSN, RN, Program Manager
Maureen Cullen, RN, Clinical Nurse Specialist
Charlene Palmer, Program Assistant
Back to the Top
Contact Information
Emergency/Patient Transfer 24-Hour Contact
617-732-5034
Patient Follow-up Appointments
617-732-7715
Outreach
617-732-7796
General Information
617-732-7411
Send Feedback to: 
