Salim Tamimi

Dr. Salim Tamimi is a general surgeon and a resident in pediatric surgery at the Department of Pediatric Surgery and Urology at Astrid Lindgrens Childrens' Hospital at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. Starting his surgical career at Sankt Görans Hospital in Stockholm, where he completed his residency in general surgery, he then proceed to his current department. His clinical work consists of surgical management of malformations, neonatal surgery, pediatric emergency and trauma surgery and, to some extent, burns and vascular access. He is also the Head of pediatric trauma at Karolinska University Hospital

His research focuses on the management of pediatric inguinal hernia in children between 0-18 years, with four parallell projects investigating different aspects of this very common congenital malformation. 

Dr. Tamimi's researched stemmed from an interest in common surgical conditions where small improvements can make a big difference and global surgery. His current research team consists of pediatric, reconstructive and hernia surgeons, all with experiences from the field of global health and surgery.

His PhD program is built around pediatric inguinal hernias, with focus on different aspects of the condition. There is a big knowledge gap in this field in several ways. The timing of surgery when it comes to the youngest children, i.e preterm babies and infants, is still not known and the repair methods in adolescents is still a matter of some controversy. Furthermore, millions of children globally, do not have access to adequate surgical care, and there are evidence from research in adults, that task sharing could be a way of increasing access to surgery in low income countries. Wether this is true for children as well, is not known.

Currently, Dr. Tamimi is doing four different studies in this field. Two of these revolves around adolescents and hernia repair. Using the Swedish Hernia Register, these studies investigate the method of repair in this age group. As of today, there is no consensus, nationally or internationally, how to treat hernias in teenagers. Looking at two principally different methods, mesh repair and suture repair, the studies aim to find out if one method is to be preferred, with regards to both hernia recurrence and post-operative pain.

The third study aims to fill the knowledge gap regarding timing of surgery in the youngest children, preterms and infants. These children have an increased risk of incarceration, which preferably would make prompt surgery the best clinical choice. They do, however, have an increased risk of post-operative complications after anesthesia, where post-operative apnea is one of the most severe conditions. How to balance these two risks, incarceration and post-operative apnea, is still not entirely known.

The fourth study focuses on task sharing in low income settings. The study is a non-inferiority RCT in Uganda, where children between 1-12 years, are randomized into surgery by a surgeon or a non-specialist physician. The study is investigating a system that is already in place in Uganda, but no research has been done regarding post-operative complications and recurrence. Evidence from adults indicates that this method of task sharing is safe and cost effective, but no research has been done in the pediatric population. Showing similar results in this group, could create incentives to train non specialists in pediatric hernia surgery, potentially boosting surgical capacity in Uganda and other countries with similar problems

Dr. Tamimi is regularly involved in teaching in his clinical role at his department. The teaching commitment covers medical students, junior doctors, international fellows and general surgeons doing pediatric surgery rotations. He is involved both in theoretical teaching in pediatric surgical conditions and clinical bedside training. He is a former president of KIRUB, the Swedish association of surgical residents, with a strong commitment to issues regarding surgical training and safety.

He has been involved in the elective course in Global surgery given at Karolinska Institutet, both as a lecturer in pediatric surgery and traveling with medical students to Uganda as a supervisor, both organizing rotations and providing bedside teaching,