Our Leadership: Katherine Deans, MD, MHSc

Katherine Deans, MD, MHSc is the Surgeon-in-Chief at Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware Valley and is a member of the Delaware Valley Executive Cabinet. In her role, Dr. Deans partners with hospital leadership and medical staff to advance critical components of our strategy, including strengthening the capabilities and positioning of our surgical programs, our Advanced Delivery Program and our Cardiac Center.

Dr. Deans is a pediatric surgeon, prolific researcher and seasoned leader. As a surgeon, she has developed expertise in complex hepatobiliary surgery and in the general surgical management of complex congenital heart disease patients. As a scientist, her primary interests highlight the importance of patient and family input in designing and executing clinical trials. Her portfolio of work has decreased patient morbidity, reduced costs and increased patient satisfaction. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, and has received over $10 million in research funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

Prior to joining Nemours Children’s, Dr. Deans was a professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University. There she held notable roles including becoming the first Chief Clinical Research Officer as well as the co-founder and co-director of Nationwide’s Center for Surgical Outcomes Research.

Dr. Deans is board-certified in general surgery, surgical critical care and pediatric surgery. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College, her Doctorate in Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and her Master of Health Science degree from the Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, her pediatric surgery fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and her research training and critical care fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Deans is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Surgery. She is a member of the Society of University Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group, the American Pediatric Surgical Association and the Pediatric Trauma Society. She is an assistant editor for the Journal of Pediatric Surgery and ad hoc reviewer for nearly a dozen prestigious publications.