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Research & publications

Research you can read for yourself.

Before founding the practice, Dr. Khan spent two years as a plastic surgery research fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, and continued publishing through her three-year plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship at Beth Israel Lahey Health. Every paper below links to its original record so you can verify it.

Browse the publications Meet Dr. Khan
  • 15 peer-reviewed publicationsJournal articles, case reports and a systematic review, 2007–2022
  • 3 as first authorIncluding work in Biotechnology and Bioengineering and Dermatologic Surgery
  • Every article linkedPubMed and DOI records for independent verification

What this work is

Science first. Surgery informed by it.

Most of Dr. Khan's published research comes from the Center for Engineering in Medicine and the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she worked on how skin, scar tissue and wounds respond to physical and biological signals — pulsed electric fields, controlled ablation, light-activated tissue treatments and engineered wound dressings.

That work was largely laboratory and animal-model science: it asks how tissue behaves and why, so that future treatments can be designed well. It is not a catalogue of treatments offered at this practice, and nothing on this page is a claim that a procedure works because of a study listed here. Her clinical publications, from her plastic surgery training, are case reports and a systematic review in reconstructive surgery.

What the research does tell you is how Dr. Khan thinks: carefully, from evidence, and with a habit of explaining the "why" — the same approach she brings to a consultation.

Bibliography

Publications by research area.

Citations follow the indexed record. "View on PubMed" opens the National Library of Medicine entry; "Journal publication" opens the publisher's page via DOI. Links open in a new tab.

Skin regeneration and rejuvenation

Laboratory and animal-model studies of how skin, hair follicles and collagen respond to non-invasive pulsed electric fields and controlled ablation.

  1. 2018 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Skin regeneration with all accessory organs following ablation with irreversible electroporation

    Golberg A, Villiger M, Felix Broelsch G, Quinn KP, Albadawi H, Khan S, Watkins MT, Georgakoudi I, Austen WG Jr, Bei M, Bouma BE, Mihm MC Jr, Yarmush ML.

    Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (J Tissue Eng Regen Med). 2018;12(1):98–113 · online 2016

    An animal-model study of whether skin can regrow with its hair follicles and glands intact after a controlled electrical ablation.

    View on PubMed · PMID 27976527 Journal publication · DOI 10.1002/term.2374

  2. 2016 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Preventing Scars after Injury with Partial Irreversible Electroporation

    Golberg A, Villiger M, Khan S, Quinn KP, Lo WCY, Bouma BE, Mihm MC Jr, Austen WG Jr, Yarmush ML.

    Journal of Investigative Dermatology (J Invest Dermatol). 2016;136(11):2297–2304

    Third-author study of whether a controlled electrical treatment applied after injury changes how a scar forms, in an animal model.

    View on PubMed · PMID 27393126 Journal publication · DOI 10.1016/j.jid.2016.06.620

  3. 2015 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Skin rejuvenation with non-invasive pulsed electric fields

    Golberg A, Khan S, Belov V, Quinn KP, Albadawi H, Broelsch GF, Watkins MT, Georgakoudi I, Papisov M, Mihm MC Jr, Austen WG Jr, Yarmush ML.

    Scientific Reports (Sci Rep). 2015;5:10187

    Second-author study in a rat model examining whether non-invasive pulsed electric fields prompt skin to regenerate without scarring. Laboratory research, not a treatment offered at the practice.

    View on PubMed · PMID 25965851 Journal publication · DOI 10.1038/srep10187

Wound healing, scarring and infection

Studies on burn-wound disinfection, measuring collagen in scar tissue, and reducing scar contraction.

  1. 2016 Peer-reviewed article Laboratory study

    Eradication of multidrug-resistant pseudomonas biofilm with pulsed electric fields

    Khan SI, Blumrosen G, Vecchio D, Golberg A, McCormack MC, Yarmush ML, Hamblin MR, Austen WG Jr.

    Biotechnology and Bioengineering (Biotechnol Bioeng). 2016;113(3):643–650 · online 2015

    First-author laboratory study showing that pulsed electric fields can clear a drug-resistant bacterial biofilm — the kind of film that makes wound infections hard to treat.

    View on PubMed · PMID 26332437 Journal publication · DOI 10.1002/bit.25818

  2. 2016 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Longitudinal, 3D Imaging of Collagen Remodeling in Murine Hypertrophic Scars In Vivo Using Polarization-Sensitive Optical Frequency Domain Imaging

    Lo WCY, Villiger M, Golberg A, Broelsch GF, Khan S, Lian CG, Austen WG Jr, Yarmush M, Bouma BE.

    Journal of Investigative Dermatology (J Invest Dermatol). 2016;136(1):84–92

    An imaging study that followed how collagen reorganises inside thick (hypertrophic) scars over time in a mouse model.

    View on PubMed · PMID 26763427 Journal publication · DOI 10.1038/jid.2015.399

  3. 2016 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Nanolayered siRNA delivery platforms for local silencing of CTGF reduce cutaneous scar contraction in third-degree burns

    Castleberry SA, Golberg A, Sharkh MA, Khan S, Almquist BD, Austen WG Jr, Yarmush ML, Hammond PT.

    Biomaterials. 2016;95:22–34

    Collaboration with MIT on a wound dressing that releases a gene-silencing molecule to reduce how much a deep burn scar contracts, studied in an animal model.

    View on PubMed · PMID 27108403 Journal publication · DOI 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2016.04.007

  4. 2015 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Pulsed electric fields for burn wound disinfection in a murine model

    Golberg A, Broelsch GF, Vecchio D, Khan S, Hamblin MR, Austen WG Jr, Sheridan RL, Yarmush ML.

    Journal of Burn Care & Research (J Burn Care Res). 2015;36(1):7–13 · online 2014

    A proof-of-concept study in mice of pulsed electric fields as a way to disinfect burn wounds without antibiotics.

    View on PubMed · PMID 25167374 Journal publication · DOI 10.1097/BCR.0000000000000157

  5. 2015 Peer-reviewed article Laboratory study

    An automated image processing method to quantify collagen fibre organization within cutaneous scar tissue

    Quinn KP, Golberg A, Broelsch GF, Khan S, Villiger M, Bouma B, Austen WG Jr, Sheridan RL, Mihm MC Jr, Yarmush ML, Georgakoudi I.

    Experimental Dermatology (Exp Dermatol). 2015;24(1):78–80 · online 2014

    A method paper: software that measures how collagen fibres are arranged in scar tissue, so scar quality can be compared objectively in research.

    View on PubMed · PMID 25256009 Journal publication · DOI 10.1111/exd.12553

  6. 2014 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Eradication of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii in burn wounds by antiseptic pulsed electric field

    Golberg A, Broelsch GF, Vecchio D, Khan S, Hamblin MR, Austen WG Jr, Sheridan RL, Yarmush ML.

    Technology (Technology (Singap World Sci)). 2014;2(2):153–160

    A laboratory study in a mouse burn-wound model testing whether short electrical pulses could clear a drug-resistant bacterium from burned tissue.

    View on PubMed · PMID 25089285 Journal publication · DOI 10.1142/S2339547814500101

Reconstructive and aesthetic surgery

Clinical reports and reviews from plastic and reconstructive surgery training.

  1. 2022 Systematic review Review of published studies

    Ethnic Disparities in Thrombotic and Bleeding Diatheses Revisited: A Systematic Review of Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction across the East and West

    Bene NC, Minasian RA, Khan SI, Desjardins HE, Guo L.

    Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery (J Reconstr Microsurg). 2022;38(1):84–88 · online 2021

    A systematic review of published studies on clotting and bleeding differences between patient populations in microsurgical breast reconstruction.

    View on PubMed · PMID 34404099 Journal publication · DOI 10.1055/s-0041-1732431

  2. 2021 Clinical case report Clinical report

    Sparing the Paramedian Forehead Flap for Reconstruction of Large Nasal and Cheek Defects

    Khan SI, Lim AA.

    Dermatologic Surgery (Dermatol Surg). 2021;47(8):1099–1101 · online 2020

    First-author clinical report on an approach to rebuilding large nasal and cheek defects after skin-cancer surgery while sparing the forehead flap.

    View on PubMed · PMID 32217844 Journal publication · DOI 10.1097/DSS.0000000000002392

  3. 2019 Clinical case report Clinical report

    Dermatologic Biopsy of Silicone Nasal Implant and Revision Rhinoplasty in the Asian Patient, A Cautionary Report

    Khan S, Kotick J, Khasawneh R, Lim A.

    Annals of Plastic Surgery (Ann Plast Surg). 2019;83(4S Suppl 1):S74–S76

    First-author clinical case report from her plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship at Beth Israel Lahey Health on a complication after a skin biopsy over a silicone nasal implant, and the revision rhinoplasty that followed.

    View on PubMed · PMID 31513071 Journal publication · DOI 10.1097/SAP.0000000000002099

Additional biomedical research

Earlier laboratory work in molecular virology and vascular surgery research.

  1. 2017 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Prevention of vein graft intimal hyperplasia with photochemical tissue passivation

    Salinas HM, Khan SI, McCormack MC, Fernandes JR, Gfrerer L, Watkins MT, Redmond RW, Austen WG Jr.

    Journal of Vascular Surgery (J Vasc Surg). 2017;65(1):190–196 · online 2016

    Second-author vascular research testing a light-activated treatment of vein grafts to reduce the thickening that can narrow them after bypass surgery.

    View on PubMed · PMID 27066947 Journal publication · DOI 10.1016/j.jvs.2015.11.049

  2. 2016 Peer-reviewed article Animal-model study

    Photochemical Tissue Passivation Reduces Vein Graft Intimal Hyperplasia in a Swine Model of Arteriovenous Bypass Grafting

    Goldstone RN, McCormack MC, Khan SI, Salinas HM, Meppelink A, Randolph MA, Watkins MT, Redmond RW, Austen WG Jr.

    Journal of the American Heart Association (J Am Heart Assoc). 2016;5(8):e003856

    A large-animal study of the same light-activated vein-graft treatment, published in the American Heart Association’s open-access journal.

    View on PubMed · PMID 27464790 Journal publication · DOI 10.1161/JAHA.116.003856

  3. 2007 Peer-reviewed article Laboratory study

    The Werner syndrome helicase is a cofactor for HIV-1 long terminal repeat transactivation and retroviral replication

    Sharma A, Awasthi S, Harrod CK, Matlock EF, Khan S, Xu L, Chan S, Yang H, Thammavaram CK, Rasor RA, Burns DK, Skiest DJ, Van Lint C, Girard AM, McGee M, Monnat RJ Jr, Harrod R.

    Journal of Biological Chemistry (J Biol Chem). 2007;282(16):12048–12057

    Molecular virology research from the Laboratory of Molecular Virology at Southern Methodist University, published while Dr. Khan was an undergraduate biochemistry student.

    View on PubMed · PMID 17317667 Journal publication · DOI 10.1074/jbc.M608104200

Conference abstracts & presentations

Research presented at scientific meetings and published as meeting abstracts. These are listed separately from the peer-reviewed articles above and are not counted among them. Where a record exists online it is linked; where it does not, the citation is shown as supplied.

  1. 2015 Meeting abstract Animal-model study

    Hair Stimulation with Pulsed Electric Fields

    Khan S, Golberg A, McCormack M, Bei M, Yarmush M, Austen WG Jr.

    Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (Plast Reconstr Surg). 2015;136(4 Suppl):30 — abstract, Plastic Surgery The Meeting 2015 (ASPS)

    First-author research presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons annual meeting in Boston (October 2015) and published as a meeting abstract: an animal study of hair-growth stimulation with pulsed electric fields.

    Journal publication · DOI 10.1097/01.prs.0000472311.05513.db

  2. 2009 Meeting abstract

    Response of anaplastic thyroid tumors to VEGF-Trap, an anti-angiogenic agent, and proposed mechanism describing the effect of VEGF-Trap on pericytes and endothelial cells

    Mitchell I, Khan S, Rossi I, Dulan G, Wang Y, Nwariaku F.

    The Journal of Investigative Medicine (J Investig Med). January 2009;57(1):376

    Also presented University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 47th Annual Medical Research Forum Book, 2009, p. 12 — the same research, presented at the institutional forum.

    Meeting abstract from her medical-school research at UT Southwestern on an anti-angiogenic agent in anaplastic thyroid tumours, with a proposed mechanism involving the cells that line and support small blood vessels. Confirmed by the practice; the abstract issue is not indexed online, so no link is shown.

    No online record · citation as supplied by Dr. Khan

Related record

An invention disclosure that grew out of the same research programme.

  1. 2018Patent application

    System and method for stimulating hair growth

    Khan S, Golberg A, Yarmush ML, Austen WG Jr. Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation (Massachusetts General Hospital).

    US 2018/0008823 A1 · filed 2016, published 2018

    A patent application assigned to Massachusetts General Hospital arising from the pulsed-electric-field hair-stimulation research (filed 2016, published 2018; the application was later abandoned during examination in 2020). It is not a granted patent, a product or a treatment.

    Patent record

Bibliographic details were reconciled against PubMed, Europe PMC, Crossref and publisher records on October 16, 2026. The 2009 meeting abstract and its forum presentation are not indexed online; their citations are shown as supplied by Dr. Khan. Journal articles are the copyright of their publishers; this page provides citations, short original descriptions and links to the originals.

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