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Ari D Brooks

Ari D Brooks, MD, MS, M.Ed

Co-Program Director, General Surgery Residency Program, College of Health Sciences

Biography

Dr. Brooks is a Surgical Oncologist with a special interest in Breast, Thyroid, Melanoma and Sarcoma. He has built several surgical oncology programs through collaboration and a focus on high quality outcomes. He has been mentoring and training fellows, residents, and medical students in a wide range of clinical environments for more than 20 years.

Dr. Brooks has been the Clerkship Director for the Department of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania for the past 7 years, and now serves as an Associate Program Director in Surgery and a Clerkship Partner for the Department of Surgery at the VinUni School of Medicine. He brings his considerable experience and innovative approach to surgical education.

Dr. Brooks has a special interest in medical device development. He has experience in bringing new technologies from needs assessment to the engineering lab and through pre-clinical and clinical studies. Most of his work is done in collaboration with engineers and small businesses who are looking to solve today’s healthcare problems with new technologies.

One such device, the iBE (intelligent breast exam), is a handheld module that quantifies and records a palpation type breast examination. The device uses capacitance to palpate the breast in each area determining the presence or absence of masses within the tissue below. The readout is a color map that does not require a radiologist for interpretation and would allow other health care providers to do quantitative breast exams. Hundreds of thousands of exams have been done worldwide in medically underserved areas such as India, Africa, and Brazil. Dr. Brooks serves as a medical director for the company and works with physicians, hospitals, and health ministries to introduce and study the use of the device in their own clinical environments/populations.

Dr. Brooks is currently participating in 2 clinical trials studying fluorescent dyes for margin assessment in breast cancer surgery. The Integro Theranostics trial is currently enrolling for a Phase I/II study in patients with breast cancer. The SBI ALApharma study is a Phase III clinical trial evaluating the use of an intra-operative fluorescence imaging device after administration of 5-amino levulinic acid in breast cancer patients undergoing lumpectomy.

In robotics, Dr. Brooks is working closely with Intuitive Surgical on 2 FDA trials looking at the use of the DaVinci SP robot for prophylactic (in high risk patients) and therapeutic (in patients with cancer) nipple sparing mastectomy.

For the past 20 years Dr. Brooks has run a program to provide access to breast screening, diagnostic tests and treatment for uninsured women in the Delaware valley. This program has reached well over 20,000 patients and has provided access to care for over 400 women during this time. During this time, his team has had the opportunity to study the dynamics of healthcare inequity and methods to combat them.

  1. Goodsell KE, Familusi O, Mulvey HE, Williams C, Yeguez A, Brooks AD. Teaching what matters: Integrating health equity education into the core surgery clerkship. Surgery. 2022 Jun;171(6):1505-1511. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2021.10.010. Epub 2021 Nov 29. PMID: 34857383.
  2. Talwar AA, Mazzaferro D, Morris MP, Davis H, Hitchner M, Shulkin J, Christopher AN, Broach RB, Brooks AD, Serletti JM. The Impact of Breast Cancer Type, Staging, and Treatment on Vascular Complications of Immediate Free-Flap Breast Reconstruction. Ann Plast Surg. 2023 Jun 1;90(6S Suppl 5):S556-S562. doi: 10.1097/SAP.0000000000003411. Epub 2023 Jan 18. PMID: 36752516.
  3. Trent G, Tong C, Brooks AD, Goodacre R, Sataloff D, Englander B. Improving time from check-in to start with preoperative SCOUT localization. Breast J. 2021 Jun;27(6):564-566. doi: 10.1111/tbj.14223. Epub 2021 Mar 11. PMID: 33706407.
  4. Guerra CE, Verderame E, Nicholson A, Wan L, Brooks AD. A Plan-Do-Study-Act Approach to the Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Patient Navigation Program to Reduce Breast Cancer Screening Disparities in Un- and Under-Insured, Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Women. Front Public Health. 2021 Feb 19;9:595786. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.595786. PMID: 33681122; PMCID: PMC7933216.
  5. Familusi O, Rios-Diaz AJ, Tilahun ED, Cunning JR, Broach RB, Brooks AD, Guerra CE, Butler PD. Post-mastectomy breast reconstruction: reducing the disparity through educational outreach to the underserved. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Feb;29(2):1055-1063. doi: 10.1007/s00520-020-05589-5. Epub 2020 Jun 26. PMID: 32592032.
  6. Clanahan JM, Reddy S, Broach RB, Rositch AF, Anderson BO, Wileyto EP, Englander BS, Brooks AD. Clinical Utility of a Hand-Held Scanner for Breast Cancer Early Detection and Patient Triage. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020 Feb;6:27-34. doi: 10.1200/JGO.19.00205. PMID: 32031433; PMCID: PMC6998011.

  • MD Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Drexel University 1992
  • MS in Medical Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania 2016
  • BA in Medical Science, Boston University 1992

  • Top Docs: Castle Connelly America’s top Docs and Philadelphia and South Jersey 2009-present
  • Jamie Brooks Lieberman Remembrance award for community activism, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Philadelphia Affiliate 2019
  • Humanitarian Award, Melanoma Research Foundation Philadelphia 2018
  • Out of the Box innovation in surgical education award/ APDS 2016
  • Clinical Research Scientist Award, Drexel University College of Medicine 202
  • Sianni Lee Community Activist award Susan G. Komen Philadelphia Affiliate 2009
  • Nominated for Golden Apple Teaching Award Drexel University College of Medicine 2004-2009 Beacon of Hope, Light of Life Award, Susan G. Komen Philadelphia Affiliate 2005
  • Golden scalpel award for resident teaching, Department of Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine 2002-2004
  • Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society Zeta Chapter 1991