surgical outcomes analysis and research surgical outcomes analysis and research surgical outcomes analysis & research, soar, is a research laboratory of the department of surgery at boston university school of medicine and boston medical center with expertise in outcomes research. soar investigates surgical diseases and perioperative outcomes. the group focuses on pancreatic cancer, other gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary malignancies, vascular disease, and transplant surgery. soar's goal is to examine quality, delivery, and financing of care in order to have an immediate impact on patient care and system improvements. the group members utilize national health services and administrative databases, as well as institutional databases, to investigate and to address factors contributing to disease outcomes and healthcare disparities. surgical outcomes analysis & research (soar)typeresearchfoundedworcester, massachusetts, 2007founderjennifer f. tseng, md, mphheadquartersboston, massachusetts, united stateskey peoplejennifer f. tseng md, mph(co-director)website the work in soar incorporates advanced statistical techniques, including logistic regression, prediction score, and decision analysis modeling. about outcomes research outcomes research evaluates the impact of health care on the health outcomes of patients and populations. this research may also include the evaluation of economic impacts linked to health outcomes, such as cost effectiveness and cost utility. an emphasis is placed on disease-oriented evaluations of care delivered in general, real-world settings. there are a wide range of outcomes to study including mortality, morbidity, functional status, mental well-being, and other aspects of health-related quality of life. outcomes research is a multidisciplinary field of inquiry that examines the use, quality, delivery, and financing of health care services to increase knowledge and understanding of the structure, processes, and effects of health services for individuals and populations. outcomes research provides the data to help solve critical problems that are faced in everyday clinical practice. the information learned can have an immediate impact on patient care and system improvement. about soar soar was founded in 2007 at umass medical school and relocated to beth israel deaconess medical center and harvard medical school, boston, massachusetts, in 2012. the mission of soar is to decrease perioperative morbidity and mortality, address health care disparities, and increase overall patient survival and quality of life. soar members hope, as part of the surgical outcomes research community, to improve overall outcomes for patients with surgical diseases. research goals pancreatic cancer and pancreatic disease other gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary malignancies vascular disease transplant surgery and transplant psychology investigating factors that affect surgical outcomes for diverse specialties including colorectal, cardiovascular, transplant, plastic and reconstructive, and minimally invasive surgery about boston medical center boston medical center (bmc) in boston, massachusetts is a teaching hospital of boston university school of medicine. situated in boston's south end neighborhood, bmc is the largest safety-net hospital in new england and caters to a diverse patient population from around the world. ongoing research soar researchers use national health services and administrative databases as well as prospective institutional tissue-linked databases to investigate factors contributing to disease outcomes for pancreatic cancer, hepato biliary disease, vascular disease, colorectal disease, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and transplant medicine. these projects are under development with the use of the following databases: ahrq nationwide inpatient sample (nis) national surgical quality improvement program (nsqip) surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (seer) seer medicare national cancer database additionally, individual research groups have access to and have expertise in disease- and specialty-specific databases. these include: vascular study group of new england (vsgne), a regional vascular surgery database. vascular quality initiative (vqi), a national vascular surgery database. american society of thoracic surgery (asts) database national trauma data bank (ntdb) scientific registry of transplant recipients also, soar researchers are conducting patient-centered outcomes research designed to: measure health-related, functional, and other outcomes from the perspective of patients and their families develop decision aid tools and strategies to assist patients in making complex choices about their healthcare compare the effectiveness of surgical interventions on patient-reported outcomes personnel jennifer f. tseng, md, mph - soar founder and co-director; surgeon-in-chief, boston medical center; james utley professor and chair of surgery, boston university school of medicine james r. rodrigue, phd - soar co-director; director, behavioral health services and research, the transplant center, beth israel deaconess medical center; professor, psychiatry, harvard medical school marc l. schermerhorn, md - soar co-director; chief, vascular and endovascular surgery, beth israel deaconess medical center; associate professor, harvard medical school publications publications 2014 arous ej, mcdade tp, smith jk, ng sc, sullivan me, zottola rj, ranauro pj, shah sa, whalen gf, tseng jf (apr 2014). "electronic medical record: research tool for pancreatic cancer?". j surg res. 187 (2): 466–70. doi:10.1016/j.jss.2013.10.036. pmid 24326179. bliss la, yang cj, chau z, ng sc, mcfadden dw, kent ts, moser aj, callery mp, tseng jf. "patient selection and the volume effect in pancreatic surgery: unequal benefits? hpb (oxford) 2014 jun 6. buck db, van herwaarden ja, schermerhorn ml, moll fl (feb 2014). "endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms". nat rev cardiol. 11 (2): 112–23. doi:10.1038/nrcardio.2013.196. pmc 4128641. pmid 24343568. chau z, west jk, zhou z, mcdade t, smith jk, ng sc, kent ts, callery mp, moser aj, tseng jf (jun 2014). "rankings versus reality in pancreatic cancer surgery: a real-world comparison". hpb (oxford). 16 (6): 528–33. doi:10.1111/hpb.12171. pmc 4048074. pmid 24245953. fokkema m, de borst gj, nolan bw, indes j, buck db, lo rc, moll fl, schermerhorn ml (jan 2014). "clinical relevance of cranial nerve injury following carotid endarterectomy". eur j vasc endovasc surg. 47 (1): 2–7. doi:10.1016/j.ejvs.2013.09.022. pmc 4096657. pmid 24157257. fokkema m, de borst gj, nolan bw, lo rc, cambria ra, powell rj, moll fl, schermerhorn ml (jan 2014). "carotid stenting versus endarterectomy in patients undergoing reintervention after prior carotid endarterectomy". j vasc surg. 59 (1): 8–15. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.06.070. pmc 3852203. pmid 23972527. fokkema m, hurks r, curran t, bensley rp, hamdan ad, wyers mc, moll fl, schermerhorn ml (jan 2014). "the impact of the present on admission indicator on the accuracy of administrative data for carotid endarterectomy and stenting". j vasc surg. 59 (1): 32–8. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.07.006. pmc 3874266. pmid 23993438. fokkema margriet; et al. (2014). "carotid stenting versus endarterectomy in patients undergoing reintervention after prior carotid endarterectomy". journal of vascular surgery. 59 (1): 8–15. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.06.070. pmc 3852203. pmid 23972527. fokkema margriet; et al. (2014). "the impact of the present on admission indicator on the accuracy of administrative data for carotid endarterectomy and stenting". journal of vascular surgery. 59 (1): 32–38. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.07.006. pmc 3874266. pmid 23993438. gilmore d; et al. (2014). "endovascular management of critical limb ischemia in renal transplant patients". annals of vascular surgery. 28 (1): 159–163. doi:10.1016/j.avsg.2012.12.007. pmid 24011817. glazier ak, heffernan k, rodrigue jr. "a framework for conducting deceased donor research in the u.s." transplantation. in press. kazley as, jordan j, simpson kn, chavin k, rodrigue j, baliga p (2014). "development and testing of a disease-specific health literacy measure in kidney transplant patients". prog transplant. 24 (3): 263–70. doi:10.7182/pit2014958. pmid 25193727. s2cid 207535320. lapointe rudow d, hays r, baliga p, cohen dj, cooper m, danovitch gm, dew ma, gordon ej, mandelbrot da, mcguire s, milton j, moore dr, morgieivich m, schold jd, segev dl, serur d, steiner rw, tan jc, waterman ad, zavala e, rodrigue jr. "consensus conference on best practices in live kidney donation: recommendations to optimize education, access, and care". am j transplant.: cs1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) lo rc, bensley rp, dahlberg se, matyal r, hamdan ad, wyers m, chaikof el, schermerhorn ml (feb 2014). "presentation, treatment, and outcome differences between men and women undergoing revascularization or amputation for lower extremity peripheral arterial disease". j vasc surg. 59 (2): 409–418. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.07.114. pmc 3946884. pmid 24080134. lo rc, lu b, fokkema mt, conrad m, patel vi, fillinger m, matyal r, schermerhorn ml (may 2014). "relative importance of aneurysm diameter and body size for predicting abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture in men and women". j vasc surg. 59 (5): 1209–16. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.10.104. pmc 4004688. pmid 24388278. ragulin-coyne e, witkowski er, chau z, wemple d, ng sc, santry hp, shah sa, tseng jf (mar 2014). "national trends in pancreaticoduodenal trauma: interventions and outcomes". hpb (oxford). 16 (3): 275–81. doi:10.1111/hpb.12125. pmc 3945854. pmid 23869407. rodrigue jr, fleishman a, vishnevsky t, whiting j, vella j, garrison k, moore d, kayler l, baliga p, chavin k, karp s, mandelbrot da (2014). "development and validation of a questionnaire to assess fear of kidney failure following living donation". transpl. int. 27 (6): 570–5. doi:10.1111/tri.12299. pmc 4028402. pmid 24606048. rodrigue jr, paek m, whiting j, vella j, garrison k, pavlakis m, mandelbrot da (2014). "trajectories of perceived benefits in living kidney donors: association with donor characteristics and recipient outcomes". transplantation. 97 (7): 762–8. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0000437560.23588.ef. pmid 24342981. s2cid 12873097. rodrigue jr, paek m, egbuna o, waterman ad, schold jd, pavlakis m, mandelbrot da (2014). "readiness of wait-listed black patients to pursue live donor kidney transplantation". prog transplant. 24 (4): 355–361. doi:10.7182/pit2014337. pmc 4516085. pmid 25488559. rodrigue jr, fleishman a, vishnevsky t, fitzpatrick s, boger m (2014). "organ donation video messaging: differential appeal, emotional valence, and behavioral intention". clinical transplantation. 28 (10): 1184–92. doi:10.1111/ctr.12449. pmid 25125237. s2cid 21256294. rodrigue jr, fleishman a, fitzpatrick s, boger m (2014). "organ donation knowledge, willingness, and beliefs of motor vehicle clerks". transplantation. 98 (10): 1025–28. doi:10.1097/tp.0000000000000424. pmid 25222015. s2cid 22705741. rodrigue jr, paek m, egbuna o, waterman ad, schold jd, pavlakis m, mandelbrot da (2014). "making house calls increases living donor inquiries and evaluations for blacks on the kidney transplant waiting list". transplantation. 98 (9): 979–86. doi:10.1097/tp.0000000000000165. pmc 4218873. pmid 24825528. rodrigue jr, leishman r, vishnevsky t, evenson ar, mandelbrot da. "concerns of abo incompatible and crossmatch-positive potential donors and recipients about participating in kidney exchanges." clin transplant. in press. rodrigue jr, schold jd, morrissey j, whiting j, vella j, kayler l, katz d, jones j, kaplan b, fleishman a, pavlakis m, mandelbrot da. "pre-donation direct and indirect costs incurred by adults who donated a kidney: findings from the kdoc study." am j transplant. in press. schold jd, goldfarb da, buccini ld, rodrigue jr, mandelbrot da, heaphy el, fatica r, poggio ed (2014). "hospitalizations following living donor nephrectomy in the united states". clin j am soc nephrol. 9 (2): 355–65. doi:10.2215/cjn.03820413. pmc 3913232. pmid 24458071. schold jd, buccini lb, rodrigue jr, mandelbrot d, goldfarb da, flechner sm, kayler lk, poggio ed. "critical factors associated with missing follow-up data for living kidney donors in the united states." am j transplant. in press. yang cj, bliss la, schapira ef, freedman sd, ng sc, windsor ja, tseng jf. "systematic review of early surgery for chronic pancreatitis: impact on pain, pancreatic function, and re-intervention. j gastrointest surg. 2014 jun 19. zhang jq, curran t, mccallum jc, wang l, wyers mc, hamdan ad, guzman rj, schermerhorn ml (may 2014). "risk factors for readmission after lower extremity bypass in the american college of surgeons national surgery quality improvement program". j vasc surg. 59 (5): 1331–9. doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2013.12.032. pmc 4004644. pmid 24491239. publications 2013 arous, edward j., et al. "electronic medical record: research tool for pancreatic cancer?." journal of surgical research (2013). bayliss george p, et al. (2013). "immunosuppression after renal allograft failure: a survey of us practices". clinical transplantation. 27 (6): 895–900. doi:10.1111/ctr.12254. pmid 24118389. s2cid 9547616. bensley, rodney p., et al. "accuracy of administrative data versus clinical data to evaluate carotid endarterectomy and carotid stenting." journal of vascular surgery (2013). bensley, rodney p., et al. "risk of late-onset adhesions and incisional hernia repairs after surgery." journal of the american college of surgeons (2013). bensley, rodney p., et al. "open repair of intact thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms in the american college of surgeons national surgical quality improvement program." journal of vascular surgery (2013). buck dominique b., et al. "endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms." national review of cardiology (2013). chau, zeling, et al. "rankings versus reality in pancreatic cancer surgery: a real‐world comparison." hpb (2013). edwards, samuel t., et al. "comparative effectiveness of endovascular versus open repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in the medicare population." journal of vascular surgery (2013). fokkema, m., et al. "clinical relevance of cranial nerve injury following carotid endarterectomy." european journal of vascular and endovascular surgery (2013). fokkema, margriet, et al. "in-hospital vs postdischarge adverse events following carotid endarterectomy." journal of vascular surgery (2013). fokkema, margriet, et al. "selective external endarterectomy in patients with ipsilateral symptomatic internal carotid artery occlusion." journal of vascular surgery (2013). glaser jd; et al. (2013). "fate of the contralateral limb after lower extremity amputation". journal of vascular surgery.