Physician Investigator (Cl) Surgery, Mass General Research Institute

Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School

Associate Visiting Surgeon Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD University of Minnesota Medical School 2000

abdominoplasty; breast implantation; breast implants; breast reconstruction; cicatrix; mammaplasty; mastectomy; mastectomy subcutaneous; nipples; skin; smad proteins; surgical flaps; wound healing

Dr. Colwell has research interests in improving techniques and outcomes for breast reconstruction and body contouring.  She is currently assessing patient satisfaction after different types of breast reconstruction and assessing the differences between patients who go on to have reconstruction compared to those who do not. This may help in counseling future patients. Dr. Colwell has also published the MGH experience on reconstructions after nipple-sparing mastectomy.

Currently the hospital has over 2000 implant reconstructions following mastectomy procedures which save the native nipple.  In many surgeries, the patient has the implant placed on the same day as the mastectomy so that she awakens from surgery with her new breasts and no other surgery is necessary.

In addition,  Dr. Colwell is interested in abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) outcomes.  She reviewed the MGH experience of 779 surgeries in her paper "Impact of Technique and Patient Subtype on Abdominoplasty Outcomes: A 12-Year Massachusetts General Hospital Experience" and found the MGH technique to be safe.

She also found that combining abdominal surgery with other common surgeries performed for a mommy make-over (such as breast lifts or breast augmentations and liposuction) to be safe and have a similar low rate of complications. This paper was awarded an outstanding paper award at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons national meeting in 2016.  In addition, Dr. Colwell  is interested in patient safety in body contouring and is trying to determine the best way to manage these patients during their procedures to minimize risk of complications and optimize outcomes.