The 2017 MedTech Boston 40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovators

39. Yanik Bababekov, MD, MPH
General Surgery Resident, PGY-4, Aetna Foundation Fellow in Healthcare Innovation, Healthcare Transformation Lab, Marshall K. Bartlett Surgical Research Fellow, Camer/Rand Foundation Fellow in Quality and Leadership, Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery, Department of Surgery Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Yanik J. Bababekov was initially drawn to surgery because of his “passion to be part of a team that makes a positive difference in the lives of others.” With an MD/MPH from Tufts University School of Medicine, he was drawn to transplant surgery because of the amazing transformations he saw patients make from sickness to health.

While at Massachusetts General, he has earned the Marshall K. Bartlett Surgical Research Fellowship and the Camer/Rand Foundation Fellowship in Quality and Leadership to pursue health services at the Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery. In addition, he was awarded the Aetna Foundation Fellowship in Healthcare Innovation at the Healthcare Transformation Lab.

Along the way, Dr. Bababekov’s interactions inspired him to pursue programs that would help improve the quality of healthcare “by bridging health services research with innovation.” In order to do so, Dr. Bababekov assembled a multi-disciplinary team to improve the quality of the transplant process following a patient-centered approach. He is currently leveraging digital health technology to simplify the transplant process for patients and their families. One of his projects “aims to develop interactive transplant education tailored to the health literacy levels of patients and their caregivers. Another project focuses to create a point of care tool to organize multi-disciplinary care for physicians and also serve as a dynamic navigator-checklist for patients through complex health journeys.”

Dr. Bababekov most enjoys working alongside his colleagues to improve the quality of patient care and hopes that this will motivate him throughout the rest of his career. In his free time, Dr. Bababekov enjoys spending time out in nature with his wife, Lindsay, and their daughter, Noa.