Daithi Heffernan, MD, FACS, AFRCSI

Specialties

• Trauma / Surgical Critical Care
• General Surgery
• Hernia Repair

Board Certification: American Board of Surgery (General Surgery, Surgical Critical Care)

Education: Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland

Residency: General Surgery - University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Fellowship: Trauma and Surgical Critical Care - Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Memberships in Societies:
Fellow - American College of Surgeons (FACS)
Associate Fellow - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (AFRCSI)
Society of Critical Care Medicine
Surgical Infection Society
Association for Academic Surgery
Shock Society
Rhode Island Medical Society

Hospital Affiliations:
The Miriam Hospital
Rhode Island Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital
Providence VA Medical Center

1. Kasirajan K, Heffernan DJ, Langsfeld M. “Acute Thoracic Aortic Trauma: A comparison of endoluminal stent grafts with open repair and non-operative management.” Annals of Vascular Surgery 2003 Nov; 17(6): 589-595
2. Kasirajan K, Mascha EJ, Heffernan D, Sifuentes J. “Determinants of in-hospital mortality and length of stay for acute intestinal gangrene.” American Journal of Surgery 2004 Apr; 187(4): 482-485
3. Heffernan DS, Schermer CR, Lu SW. “What defines a distracting injury in cervical spine assessment?” Journal of Trauma. 2005 Dec; 59(6): 1396-1399
4. Heffernan D, Dudley B, McNeil PL, Howdieshell TR. “Local arginine supplementation results in sustained wound nitric oxide production and reductions in vascular endothelial growth factor expression and granulation tissue formation.” Journal of Surgical Research 2006 Jun; 133(1): 46-54
5. Howdieshell TR, Heffernan D, Dipiro JT: Therapeutic Agents Committee of the Surgical Infection Society. “Surgical infection society guidelines for vaccination after traumatic injury”. Surgical Infections (Larchmt) 2006 Jun; 7(3):275-303
6. Dossett LA, Swenson BR, Heffernan D, Bonatti H, Metzger R, Sawyer RG, May AK. “High levels of endogenous estrogens are associated with death in the critically injured adult.” Journal of Trauma 2008 Mar; 64(3): 580-585
7. Dossett LA, Heffernan DS, Lightfoot MA, Collier B, Diaz JJ, Sawyer RG, May AK. “Obesity and pulmonary outcomes in critically injured adults.” Chest 2008; 134(5): 974-80
8. Hu CK, Venet F, Heffernan DS, Wang YL, Horner B, Huang X, Chung CS, Gregory SH, Ayala A. “The role of hepatic invariant NKT cells in systemic/local inflammation and mortality during polymicrobial septic shock.” Journal of Immunology 2009; 182(4): 2467-75
9. May AK, Stafford RE, Bulger EM, Heffernan DS, Guillamondegui O, Bochicchio G, Eachempati SR. “Surgical Infection Society Guidelines: Treatment of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections” Surgical Infections 2009; 10(5): 467-499
10. Heffernan DS, Thakkar R, Monaghan S, Ravindran R, Adams CA, Kozloff MS, Gregg SC, Connolly MD, Machan JT, Cioffi WG. “Normal presenting vital signs are unreliable in geriatric blunt trauma victims.” J Trauma 2010; 69(4): 813-820.
11. Heffernan DS, Inaba K, Arbabi S, Cotton BA. “Sympathetic hyperactivity after traumatic brain injury and the role of beta-blocker therapy.” J Trauma 2010; 69(9): 1602-1609
12. Thakkar RK, Chung CS, Chen Y, Monaghan SF, Lomas-Neira J, Heffernan DS, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Local tissue expression of the cell death ligand, FasL, plays a central role in the development of extra-pulmonary acute lung injury.” Shock 2011; 36(2): 138-143
13. Heffernan DS. Vera RM, Monaghan SF, Thakkar RK, Kozloff MS, Connolly MD, Gregg SC, Machan JT, Harrington DT, Adams CA Jr, Cioffi WG. “Impact of socioethnic factors on outcomes following traumatic brain injury. Journal of Trauma 2011; 70(3): 527-534
14. Monaghan SF, Heffernan DS, Thakkar RK, Reinert, SE, Machan JT, Connolly MD, Gregg, SC, Kozloff MS, Adams CA, Cioffi WG. “The development of a Urinary Tract Infection is associated with increased mortality in trauma patients.” Journal of Trauma. 2011; 71(6): 1569-1574
15. Heffernan DS, Dossett LA, Lightfoot MA, Fremont RD, Ware LB, Sawyer RG, May AK. “Gender and ARDS in critically injured adults: A prospective study.” Journal of Trauma 2011: 71(4): 878-883
16. Monaghan SF, Thakkar RK, Heffernan DS, Huang X, Chung CS, Lomas-Neira J, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Mechanisms of indirect acute lung injury: A novel role for the Co-inhibitory receptor Programmed Death-1 (PD-1). Annals of Surgery 2012; 255(1): 158-164.
17. Heffernan DS, Monaghan SF, Thakkar RK, Machan JT, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Failure to normalize lymphopenia following trauma is associated with increased mortality, independent of the leukocytosis pattern.” Critical Care 2012; 16(1); R12
18. Shubin NJ, Chung CS, Heffernan DS, Irwin LR, Monaghan SF, Ayala A. “BTLA expression contributes to septic morbidity and mortality by inducing innate inflammatory cell dysfunction.” J Leuko Biol 2012; 92(3): 593-603
19. Monaghan SF, Thakkar RK, Tran ML, Huang X, Cioffi WG, Ayala A, Heffernan DS. “Programmed Death-1 expression as a marker for immune and physiological dysfunction in the critically ill surgical patient.” Shock 2012 38(2); 117-122.
20. Monaghan SF, Adams CA, Stephen AH, Connolly MD, Gregg SC, Machan JT, Cioffi WG, Heffernan DS. “Infections after trauma are associated with subsequent cardiac injury.” J Trauma and Acute Care Surg 2012; 73(5): 1079-1084
21. Thakkar RK, Monaghan SF, Connolly MD, Gregg SC, Stephen AH, Adams CA, Cioffi WG, Heffernan DS. “Empiric antibiotics pending BAL results in patients without pneumonia significantly alters the flora but not the resistance profile if a subsequent pneumonia develops.” J Surg Res 2013; 181(2): 328-8
22. Duron VP, Monaghan SF, Connolly MD, Gregg SC, Stephen AH, Adams CA, Cioffi WG, Heffernan DS. “Undiagnosed medical comorbidities in the uninsured: a significant predictor of mortality following trauma.” J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2013; 73(5): 1093-1098
23. Heffernan DS, Monaghan SF, Thakkar RK, Tran ML, Chung CS, Gregory SH, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Inflammatory mechanisms in sepsis: elevated invariant natural killer T-cell numbers in mouse and their modulatory effect on macrophage function.” Shock 2013; 40(2): 122-8
24. Fox ED, Heffernan DS, Cioffi WG, Reichner JS. “Neutrophils from critically ill septic patients mediate profound loss of endothelial barrier integrity.” Crit Care 2013; 17(5): R226
25. Shubin NJ, Monaghan SF, Heffernan DS, Chung CS, Ayala A. “B and T Lymphocyte attenuator expression on CD4+T-cells associates with sepsis and subsequent infections in ICU patients.” Crit Care 2013; 17(6): R276
26. Lomas-Neira J, Venet F, Chung CS, Thakkar R, Heffernan D, Ayala A. “Neutrophil-Endothelial interactions mediate angiopoietin-2 associated pulmonary endothelial cell dysfunction in indirect acute lung injury in mice” Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2014; 50(1): 193-200
27. Heffernan DS, Monaghan SF, Chung CS, Cioffi WG, Gravenstein S, Ayala A. “A divergent response of innate regulatory T-cells to sepsis in humans: Circulating invariant Natural Killer T-cells are preserved.” J Hum Immunol 2014; 75(3): 277-282
28. Blakely A, Heffernan DS, Miner TJ. “Elevated C-Reactive Protein as a predictor of patient outcomes following palliative surgery.” Journal of Surgical Oncology 2014; 110(6): 651-5
29. Ottinger M, Monaghan SF, Gravenstein S, Cioffi WG, Ayala A, Heffernan DS. “The Geriatric cytokine response to trauma: time to consider a new threshold.” Surg Infect 2014; 16(6):800-805
30. Young JS, Monaghan SF, Chung CS, Cioffi WG, Ayala A, Heffernan DS. “Divergent invariant Natural Killer T-cell (iNKT-cell) response to abdominal versus non-abdominal sepsis in humans.” Surg Infect 2015; 16(1): 29-35
31. Vidri RJ, Blakely AM, Kulkarni SS, Vaghjiani RG, Heffernan DS, Harrington DT, Cioffi WG, Miner TJ. “American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality improvement program as a quality measurement tool for advanced cancer patients.” Ann Palliat Med 2015; 44(4): 200-206
32. Cohen DM, Carino GP, Heffernan DS, Lueckel SN, Mazer J, Skierkowski D, Machan JT, Mermel LA, Levinson AT “Arterial catheter use in the ICU: A national survey of antiseptic technique and perceived infectious risk.” Crit Care Med 2015; 43(11): 2346-2353
33. Chiulli LC, Stephen AH, Miner TJ, Heffernan DS. “Association of medical comorbidities, surgical outcomes and failure to rescue: An analysis of the Rhode Island Hospital NSQIP database.” Journal of the American College of Surgeons 2015; 221(6); 1050-1056
34. Lomas-Neira J, Heffernan DS, Ayala A, Monaghan SF. “Blockade of endothelial growth factor Angiopoietin-2 reduces indices of ARDS and mortality in mice resulting from the dual-insults of hemorrhagic shock and sepsis.” Shock 2016; 45(2): 157-165
35. Young JS, Heffernan DS, Chung CS, Kettenmann ML, Young WA, Guillen VA, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Effect of PD-1:PD-L1 in invariant natural killer T-cell emigration and chemotaxis following sepsis.” Shock 2016; 45(5): 534-539
36. GlobalSurg Collaborative. “Mortality of emergency abdominal surgery in high- middle- and low- income countries.” Br J Surg 2016; 103(8): 971988
37. Zimmerman AM, Marwaha J, Nunez H, Harrington D, Heffernan D, Monaghan S, Adams C, Stephen A. “Preoperative myocardial injury as a predictor of mortality in emergency general surgery: An analysis using the American College of Surgeons NSQIP database.” J Am Coll Surg 2016; 223(2): 381-386
38. Sawhney JS, Stephen AH, Nunez H, Lueckel SN, Kheirbek T, Adams CA, Cioffi WG, Heffernan DS. “Impact of type of health insurance on infection rates among young trauma patients.” Surg Infect 2016; 17(5): 541-546
39. Gregg SC, Heffernan DS, Connolly MD, Stephen AH, Lueckel SN, Harrington DT, Machan JT, Adams CA, Cioffi WG. “Teaching leadership in trauma resuscitation: Immediate feedback from a real-time competency-based evaluation tool shows long term improvement in resident performance.” J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2016; 81(4): 729-734
40. Wu Y, Chung CS, Chen Y, Monaghan SF, Patel S, Huang X, Heffernan DS, Ayala A. “A novel role for programmed cell death receptor ligand-1 (PD-L1) in sepsis-induced intestinal dysfunction.” Mol Med 2016; 22
41. Singh M, Butterfield K, Monteiro JFG, George A, Heffernan DS, McNicoll L, Gravenstein S. “Improved survival in patients older than 80 years with multiple rib fractures: Impact of geriatric trauma co-management.” Gerontol Geriatr Res 2016; 2(4): 1022
42. Heffernan DS, Monaghan SF, Ayala A. “Lymphocyte integrin expression differences between SIRS and sepsis patients.” Ir J Med Sci 2016; doi:10.1007/s11845-016-1525-4
43. Monaghan SF, Chung CS, Chen Y, Lomas-Neira J, Fairbrother WG, Heffernan DS, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Soluble Programmed Cell Death Receptor-1 (sPD-1): A potential biomarker with anti-inflammatory properties in human and experimental acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).” J Transl Med 2016; 14(1): 312
44. Kao MJ, Nunez H, Monaghan SF, Heffernan DS, Adams CA, Lueckel SN, Stephen AH. “Trauma patients who present in a delayed fashion: a unique and challenging population.” J Surg Res 2017; 208: 204-210
45. Young WA, Fallon EA, Heffernan DS, Efron PA, Cioffi WG, Ayala A. “Improved survival following induction of sepsis by cecal slurry in PD-1 knockout murine neonates.” Surgery 2017; 161(15): 1387-1393
46. Chun TT, Garcia-Toca M, Eng JF, Slaiby J, Marcaccio E, Cioffi WG, Heffernan DS. “Post-operative infections are associated with increased risk of cardiac events in vascular patients.” Ann Vasc Surg 2017; 41:151-159
47. Dickinson CM, Karlin DR, Nunez HR, Cao SA, Heffernan DS, Monaghan SF, Kheirbek T, Adams CA, Stephen AH. “Do patients with pre-existing psychiatric illness have an increased risk of infection after injury?” Surg Infect 2017; [epub ahead of print]
48. Ottinger ME, Monaghan SF, Gregg SC, Stephen AH, Connolly MD, Harrington DT, Adams CA, Cioffi WG, Heffernan DS. “Trauma Morning Report is the ideal environment to teach and evaluate resident communication and sign-outs in the 80-hour work week.” Injury 2017; S0020-1383(17)30321-2 [epub ahead of print]

Providence - 2 Dudley Street, Suite 470