Carisa M. Cooney, MPH

Carisa Cooney is an associate professor in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also serves as the department’s director of education innovation and as director of the Clinical Research Core. She is a member of the Plastic Surgery Residency Redesign faculty team, which in 2013 was awarded a two-year grant to improve residency training, efficiency, and evaluation and business practice modules with an eye toward decreasing the time necessary to complete training. Thus far, this grant has led to three additional grants: two Maryland Innovation Initiative grants (2015 and 2016) and a National Science Foundation SBIR grant (2021).

Ms. Cooney is involved in clinical trials across the department, advancing clinical research in the areas of burn care, breast reconstruction, reconstructive transplantation, general plastic surgery and workforce diversity. She teaches research best practices (e.g., IRB, GCP) and has presented the department’s annual Responsible Conduct of Research sessions since 2020. On the institutional level, she is an annual presenter on how to transition from mentee to mentor for the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research “K-to-R” series, and gives a six-session course on grant writing through the Johns Hopkins Office of Faculty Development. Additionally, Ms. Cooney conducts research in graduate medical education and is interested in better educating students, resident physicians, fellows and attending physicians on the business of health care, for which she founded and directed The Stanley A. Klatsky, MD, Business of Healthcare Endowed Lectureship (2015–2023).

A key member of Johns Hopkins’ human reconstructive transplantation studies (hand/arm, face, penis, and uterus transplantation), Ms. Cooney is a co-investigator on several multicenter DOD-funded reconstructive transplantation projects. As of August 2024, she has mentored over 55 research trainees and fellows in clinical and educational research and published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles. She enjoys presenting locally, nationally and internationally on her research, as well as on topics related to clinical research best practices, grant and manuscript writing, and surgeon wellness.