Graduate Profiles
R. 
Serene Perkins, MD
After completing General Surgery Residency from Thomas Jefferson University in 2006, Serene Perkins joined the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Department of Surgery Faculty as Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of International Surgery, a program which she spearheaded. She is also the International Surgery Advisor for the World Journal of Surgery and serves on the global health-related committees of several academic surgical societies.
Dr. Perkins began her career in a highly remote mountainous area of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, serving the only district hospital to survive the 2005 earthquake. Recognizing the disparate access to quality surgical care which burdens many countries in South Asia, she sought counsel from leading surgeons both here and abroad. In India, she found colleagues who shared a common vision to improve access to superior surgical care, not only within India, but throughout the South Asian subcontinent. She has since formed an international academic collaboration between OHSU and the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) in Lucknow, the premier subspecialty referral center in a state of 128 million people.
Dr. Perkins splits her time between SGPGIMS, as a visiting adjunct professor in the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, and the OHSU Emergency General Surgery Service. Her academic and research interests are in hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery (gallbladder and pancreatic cancers, bile duct benign and malignant conditions). She studies Urdu and Hindi formally and thoroughly enjoys the joys and trials of a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. Her husband is a South Asia historian and literary critic, and their two children wholeheartedly embrace international living.
