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Brian M. Cummings, MD

Specialties
  • Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
  • Pediatrics
Location(s):
Languages Spoken
  • English

Brian Cummings, M.D., specializes in pediatric critical care at Shriners Children’s Boston and is board certified in that discipline.

A graduate of the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine, Dr. Cummings completed his residency and fellowship in pediatric and pediatric critical care at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also served as a clinical fellow at Shriners Children's Boston, where all levels and types of burns, including chemical burns, electrical burns and flame burns, are treated.

After completing training in pediatric and pediatric critical care, Dr. Cummings joined the Harvard Medical School faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he provides clinical care in the pediatric intensive care unit, supervises trainees and conducts research.

When not treating patients, Dr. Cummings serves in multiple administrative, leadership and teaching roles with a focus on advancing quality, safety and ethical standards in healthcare. He also leads and publishes clinical research in pediatrics, with particular emphasis on ethics, quality improvement and patient safety.

Pediatric Care

Specialty

  • Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
  • Pediatrics

More About Me

Board Certifications
  • American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Pediatrics - General
  • American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Critical Care Medicine
Leadership and Memberships
  • 2025-present: Executive Medical Director, Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Mass General Brigham
  • 2025-present: Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
  • 2020-present: Faculty Member, Harvard Medical School, Center for Bioethics
  • 2023-present: Emergency Preparedness Committee Member, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • 2017-present: Abstract Reviewer at the Annual Congress, American Society of Bioethics and Humanities
Editorial Positions
  • 2017-2024: Section Editor, NEJM Knowledge Plus: Pediatric Ethics and Quality Improvement, The New England Journal of Medicine
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer, JAMA Pediatrics
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Intensive Care Medicine
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Pediatric Intensive Care
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer, Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer, Frontiers in Pediatrics
Awards and Honors
  • 2024: Pillars of Excellence Award, Mass General Brigham
  • 2022: Pillars of Excellence Award, Mass General Brigham, Pediatric Capacity Group
  • 2022: Ronald Kleinman Professor of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital of Pediatrics
  • 2019: Nominee, Nathaniel Bowditch Award, Massachusetts Board of Trustees
  • 2018: Partners in Excellence Award-Teamwork, Partners HealthCare
  • 2018: Excellence in Action Award, Partners Healthcare
  • 2017: Partners in Excellence Award-Quality, Partners HealthCare
  • 2017: Nominee, Feedback Award, Mass General Brigham for Children, Pediatric Residents
  • 2017: Nominee, Mentorship Award, Mass General Brigham for Children, Pediatric Residents
  • 2016: Partners in Excellence Award, Partners HealthCare
Academic Works and Presentations
  • Presenter and Panelist: Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School; Reasonable Variability or Unethical Inequity: Exploring the Ethics of Policy Differences across Hospitals – Clinical Ethics Conversation (2025)
  • Grand Rounds: Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock; The Tragic Case of Little Charlie Gard: Lessons from Bioethics in Media (2021)
  • Grand Rounds: Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock; What Would You Do: The Case of Tinslee Lewis (2021)
  • Lecturer and Panelist: Phoenix Children’s Hospital Grand Rounds; Experience with 23.4% Hypertonic Saline (2021)
  • Lecturer: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Extracorporeal Support (ECMO) Post Cardiac Arrest: Should I Honor a Parental Request to Discontinue? (2020)
  • Lecturer: New England Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine Conference; Ethical Dilemmas in Hospital Medicine: Confidentiality and Off-Label Medication Use (2020)

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