Shaun Michael Kunisaki, MD, MSc
Pediatric General Surgery
Highlights
Age Groups Seen
- Infant 0-2
- Child 3-12
- Adolescent 13-17
Languages
- English
In-Network Plans
View All Accepted Plans (12)Gender
MaleJohns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Shaun Michael Kunisaki
Professional Titles
- Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Professor
- Associate Chief, Strategy & Integration, General Pediatric Surgery
- Director, Fetal Program, General Pediatric Surgery
- Director, Pediatric Esophageal Surgery, Johns Hopkins Children's Center
Primary Academic Title
Professor of Pediatric Surgery
Johns Hopkins Physician
Background
Shaun M. Kunisaki, MD, MSc, is Professor of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, a Robert & Jane Meyerhoff Professor at Johns Hopkins University, and Associate Chief of Strategy and Integration in the Division of General Pediatric Surgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
Dr. Kunisaki's clinical practice spans the full breadth of pediatric general, thoracic, and fetal surgery, but he is a nationally and internationally recognized authority in the prenatal and postnatal management of congenital thoracic anomalies, including lung malformations, esophageal atresia, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. He is the Director of the Fetal Program in General Pediatric Surgery and chairs the Prenatal Pediatrics Steering Committee, a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and the Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. As Director of the Pediatric Esophageal Center, he specializes in the management of complex esophageal disorders such as long-gap esophageal atresia. He serves on the Editorial Board of several journals, including Pediatrics and Surgery, and holds senior leadership positions in the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA), Section on Surgery of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Society of University Surgeons (SUS).
Dr. Kunisaki has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. His laboratory is funded by the National Institutes of Health and is largely focused on using stem cells derived from a patient's own tissues to better understand and treat several important pediatric surgical diseases. His team has developed techniques to reprogram fetal and neonatal tissues into pluripotent stem cells and organoids, and are working with scientists and engineers to improve long-term outcomes for children with severe birth defects, including spina bifida and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. More recently, he founded the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network (EPSN), a clinical research collaborative composed of pediatric surgeons from over 20 children's hospitals in the country.
A native of southern California, Dr. Kunisaki graduated with honors from Harvard College, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Harvard Medical School. He completed general surgery residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School followed by a pediatric surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan. He also did additional research fellowships at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at Boston Children's Hospital.
Philanthropy plays a crucial role in the work Dr. Kunisaki does by providing seed funding for research, funding for the best educational resources to train the future generation of pediatric surgeons, and additional support services for families receiving treatment that are not covered by insurance.
Centers and Institutes
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Research Interests
3D printing, congenital pulmonary malformations, esophageal atresia, lung development in congenital diaphragmatic hernia, perinatal stem cell reprogramming, spinal cord regeneration in spina bifida
Lab Website
Kunisaki Lab - Lab Website
The Kunisaki lab is a NIH-funded regenerative medicine group within the Division of General Pediatric Surgery at Johns Hopkins that works at the interface of stem cells, mechanobiology, and materials science. We seek to understand how biomaterials and mechanical forces affect developing tissues relevant to pediatric surgical disorders. To accomplish these aims, we take a developmental biology approach using induced pluripotent stem cells and other progenitor cell populations to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which fetal organs develop in disease.
Our lab projects can be broadly divided into three major areas: 1) fetal spinal cord regeneration 2) fetal lung development 3) esophageal regeneration
Lab members: Juan Biancotti, PhD (Instructor/lab manager); Annie Sescleifer, MD (postdoc surgical resident); Kyra Halbert-Elliott (med student), Ciaran Bubb (undergrad)
Recent publications:
Kunisaki SM, Jiang G, Biancotti JC, Ho KKY, Dye BR, Liu AP, Spence JR. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived lung organoids in an ex vivo model of congenital diaphragmatic hernia fetal lung. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2021, PMID: 32949227Biancotti JC, Walker KA, Jiang G, Di Bernardo J, Shea LD, Kunisaki SM. Hydrogel and neural progenitor cell delivery supports organotypic fetal spinal cord development in an ex vivo model of prenatal spina bifida repair. Journal of Tissue Engineering 2020, PMID: 32782773.
Kunisaki SM. Amniotic fluid stem cells for the treatment of surgical disorders in the fetus and neonate. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2018, 7:767-773
PubMed - Publications
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=kunisaki%2C+shaun+%5BFull+Author+Name%5D
Honors
- Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, TEDCO
- R21 (Principal Investigator), National Institutes of Health (NICHD), National Institutes of Health
- Castle & Connelly Medical Ltd. Top Doctors, 5/1/18
- RO1 (Principal Investigator), National Institutes of Health (NICHD), 9/1/17
- Barwick Scholar Award for Spinal Cord Research, 1/1/15
- Harold Amos Award, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 1/1/12
- James C. Carrico Faculty Research Award, American College of Surgeons, 7/1/11
Memberships
- American College of Surgeons,
Fellow
- International Society for Stem Cell Research,
Member
- American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Surgery,,
Member
- Association for Academic Surgery,
Member
- International Pediatric Endosurgery Group,
Member
- Society of Black Academic Surgeons,
Member
- American Pediatric Surgical Association,
Member
- Society of University Surgeons,
Member
Locations
- Rubenstein Child Health Building
- 200 North Wolfe Street, Rubenstein BLDG Lower Level, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Get Directions
- phone: 410-955-5210
- fax: 410-502-5314
- Johns Hopkins Health Care & Surgery Center — Bethesda
- 6420 Rockledge Drive, Suite 2300, Bethesda, MD 20817
- Get Directions
- phone: 443-997-5437
- fax: 301-896-9858
- Medical Arts Building - Columbia
- 11085 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 103, Columbia, MD 21044
- Get Directions
- phone: 443-997-5437
- fax: 410-367-2249
Expertise
Education
- Fellowship: University of Michigan Medicine, Pediatric Surgery, 2010
- Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital, General Surgery, 2008
- Medical Education: Harvard Medical School, MD, 2000
- Graduate School: London School of Economics and Political Science, MSc, 1995
Board Certifications
- Pediatric Surgery: American Board of Surgery, 2012
- Surgery (General Surgery): American Board of Surgery, 2009
Insurance
- Aetna
- CareFirst
- Cigna
- First Health
- Geisinger Health Plan
- HealthSmart/Accel
- Johns Hopkins Health Plans
- MultiPlan
- Pennsylvania's Preferred Health Networks (PPHN)
- Point Comfort Underwriters
- Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
- Veteran Affairs Community Care Network (Optum-VACCN)