Medical Expertise

Acute Care Surgery- Trauma Surgery, Surgical Critical Care; Emergency General Surgery and Laparoscopic
Surgery- Appendicitis, Biliary Tract Disease (biliary colic, cholecystitis, choledocholithiasis), Complicated
Diverticulitis, Moderate/Severe Pancreatitis, Hernia, Bowel Obstruction, Colitis, Compartment Syndrome,
Acute Mesenteric Ischemia, Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection, Enteral Access, Tracheostomy

Hospital Affiliation

University Hospital, Newark

Insurance Participation

Insurance Participation: with Provider Number (where applicable)
The information below is subject to change and should not be relied upon until after it is verified with the insurance company. In addition, psychiatric providers should be contacted directly for information on their participation with managed care and insurance companies.

America's Choice Provider Network (ACPN)

Clover Health Plans

Medicaid

Medicare

MultiPlan

Prime Health Services, Inc.

Three Rivers Provider Network

United Healthcare Community Plan (formerly AmeriChoice of NJ, Inc.)

Overview

Cherisse Berry, MD FACS is the Surgery Vice Chair of Academic Affairs and Professor of Surgery at Rutgers
Health, New Jersey Medical School, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care. Dr
Berry completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience with a minor in French at the Johns Hopkins
University. She went on to complete her Master's Degree in Biology at Harvard University, Medical Degree at
the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, and General Surgery Residency at Cedars
Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. She spent three years at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma
Center/University of Maryland where she completed an Acute Care Surgery Fellowship and Trauma Research
Fellowship before joining the Division of Acute Care Surgery at New York University Grossman School of
Medicine where she held numerous leadership roles during her tenure including Division Chief of Acute Care
Surgery, Medical Director of the Inpatient Surgery Unit, and Associate Trauma Medical Director at NYC Health
& Hospitals-Bellevue.

Dr. Berry is double board certified by the American Board of Surgery (ABS) in General Surgery and Surgical
Critical Care and has had a formidable interest in research and trauma systems. She is a Reviewer for the
Surgery, Anesthesiology, and Trauma (SAT) NIH Study Section and is R01 NIH-funded investigator with over
100 peer-reviewed published manuscripts/book chapters/editorials/commentaries. She has held numerous
national leadership roles including Vice Chair and Education Pillar Lead of the American College of Surgeons
Board of Governors Executive Committee, Chair of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST)
DEI Committee, Chair of the Women in Surgery Committee for the Society of Black Academic Surgeons,
Examiner for the American Board of Surgery Certifying Exam, and she was recently elected a Fellow of the
American Surgical Association. Dr. Berry is a surgeon scientist committed to ending racial and ethnic health
disparities and to closing the gap in achieving health equity.

Education

MD, 2004, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine

Licensure & Certification

Medical Licensure
New Jersey

Certification
American Board of Surgery - Trauma (Surgery Board)
American Board of Surgery - Surgical Critical Care

Curriculum Vitae

View CV

Relevant Publications

Keshinro, A, Butler, P, Fayanju, O, Khabele, D, Newman, E, Greene, W, Ude-Welcome, A, Joseph, KA, Stallion, A, Backhus, L, Frangos, S, DiMaggio, C, Berman, R, Hasson, R, Rodriguez, LM, Stain, S, Bukur, M, Klein, MJ, Berry, C; An examination of intersectionality and the pipeline for Black academic surgeons; JAMA Surgery 157(4):327-334, 2022.

Hambrecht, A, Berry, C, DiMaggio, C, Inaba, K, Greene, WR, Pugh, C, Krowsoski, L, Frangos, S, Chiu, W, Bukur, M; A disturbing trend: An analysis of the decline in Surgical Critical Care (SCC) fellowship training of Black and Hispanic surgeons; Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 93(1):84-90, 2022.

Warnack E, Bukur M, Frangos S, DiMaggio C, Kozar R, Klein M, and Berry C; Age is a predictor for mortality after blunt splenic injury; American Journal of Surgery; 220(3);778-782, 2020.

Gorman E, Frangos S, DiMaggio C, Bukur M, Klein M, Pachter HL, and Berry C; Is trauma center designation associated with disparities in discharge to rehabilitation centers among elderly patients with traumatic brain injury; American Journal of Surgery; 219(4);587-59, 2020.

Gorman E, Bukur, M, Frangos S, DiMaggio C, Kozar R, Klein M, and Berry C. Increasing age is associated with worse outcomes in elderly patients with severe liver injury. American Journal of Surgery; 5;1308-1311, 2020.

Keshinro A, Frangos S, Berman R, Klein M, Bukur M, DiMaggio C, Ude-Welcome A, Pachter HL, and Berry C. Under-represented minorities in surgical residencies: where are they? A call to action to increase the pipeline; Annals of Surgery;272(3);512-520, 2020.

Berry, C, Khabele, D, Mann, C, Henry-Tillman, R, Joseph, KA, Turner, P, Pugh, C, Fayanju, O, Backhus, L, Sweeting, R, Newman, E, Oseni, T, Hasson, R, White, C, Cobb, A, Johnston, F, Stallion, A, Karpeh, M, Nwariaku, F, Rodriguez, L, Hayes-Jordan, A; A call to action: Black/African American women surgeon scientists, where are they?; Annals of Surgery, 272(1):24-29, 2020.

Berry, C, Ley, EJ, Margulies, DR, Pruett, J, Miller, C, Bukur, M, Palestrant, D, Salim, A; Prospective evaluation of posttraumatic vasospasm: Determining its clinical significance after traumatic brain injury; American Surgeon, 80(3):310-312, 2014.

Berry, C, Ley, EJ, Bukur, M, Malinoski, D, Margulies, DR, Mirocha, J, Salim, A; Redefining hypotension in traumatic brain injury (4th Edition of Brain Foundation Guidelines New Blood Pressure Recommendations); Injury, 43(11):1833-1837, 2012.

Berry, C, Tcherniantchouk, O, Ley, EJ, Salim, A, Mirocha, J, Martin-Stone, S, Stolpner, D, Margulies, DR; Overdiagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in surgical ICU patients; Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 213(1):10-17, 2011.

Areas Of Interest

Surgical Critical Care

Acute Care Surgery

Emergency General Surgery

Health Care Disparities

Health Equity

Trauma Surgery

Course List

Health Equity in Emergency Trauma Care: Analysis of disparities in the pre-hospital emergency trauma

NIMHD/NIH R01 Funded Study- Trauma is the leading cause of death for children and adults 46 years and
younger, killing more Americans than AIDS and stroke combined. African Americans (OR 1.2, P<0.001), people
living in high poverty neighborhoods (OR 1.01, P<0.001), and those enrolled in public health insurance
programs (OR 1.53, P<0.001) have increased mortality after trauma when compared to their injured
counterparts. Quantifying the equity in access to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and designated/verified
trauma centers (TCs), as well as the extent to which timely access to care improves health outcomes are
critical first steps to address this alarming discrepancy. Equitable availability to EMS has yet to be evaluated
and equitable access to TCs is understudied. In fact, no one has explored the importance of expeditious
availability to emergency health care services such as EMS and timely access to emergent trauma care as key
social determinants of health (SDOH). Models to evaluate the role of SDOH as major predictors of these
disparities remain untested. Rapid transport to a TC is associated with a 25% reduction in mortality; however,
nearly 45 million Americans lack timely access to a verified TC. When compared to white populations, recent
data show racial/ethnic minority populations have significantly less access to TC and worse outcomes
following trauma. Understanding the factors that determine trauma-related socio-spatial disparities can inform
interventions at both the policy and system levels to mitigate the disproportionately large numbers of deaths
experienced by minoritized populations. Thus, there is a compelling need for research in these areas to
facilitate targeted interventions to eliminate socio-spatial disparities within the pre-hospital phase of the
emergency trauma care system to improve patient outcomes. To evaluate socio-spatial disparities in
availability and access to both EMS and to TCs among critically injured trauma patients, we will apply the
Health Equity Measurable Framework (HEMF) to the pre-hospital phase of the emergency trauma care system
(availability to EMS, EMS response time, EMS scene time, EMS transportation time, EMS decision to transport
to TCs vs. non-TCs, and EMS total prehospital time) and use large national databases to develop
spatiotemporal models to assess drivers of disparities in traumatic injuries. HEMF will be particularly well
suited for our proposed study because it is designed to describe SDOH in a causal framework to guide the
quantitative analysis of health equity for ongoing pre-hospital trauma care surveillance of the critically injured
and subsequent policy development. Our interdisciplinary team will use data science methods and novel
analytics to address this critical public health need by identifying health disparities at the level of the pre-
hospital emergency trauma care system.