James Harris Jr., MD

Dr. Black is an expert in the care of patients with aortic aneurysms. Dr. Black and the Vascular Team at Hopkins take pride in the fact their techniques and results have been published in the flagship journals in the field of Vascular Surgery. Our peer reviewed results demonstrate a record of safety and operative outcomes that is unrivaled regionally and nationally. Indeed, no other vascular program in the Baltimore, District of Columbia, or the Mid-Atlantic region, has accumulated and demonstrated a similar experience in the care of patients with aortic aneurysms. Dr. Black has been invited to lecture his colleagues, both across the nation and worldwide, on his techniques to manage and repair aneurysms in the abdomen (AAA), thoracic aneurysms (TAA) and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAA). Dr. Black has unique experience with management of aortic dissection and genetically inherited conditions that may predispose patients to aortic aneurysm and dissection such as Marfan Syndrome, Loeys-Dietz Syndrome, Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Familial Thoracic Aneurysm and Dissection Syndrome. His experience in this regard has many important implications for all patients with aneurysms, and through these insights, he advocates for his patients to invoke many non-surgical approaches therapies that can reduce the future risk of aneurysm events and thus improves the length and quality of his patients' life. Dr. Black is the most experienced surgeon in the mid-Atlantic Region with both traditional surgical, and more recently complex endovascular repairs using the FDA approved fenestrated endovascular devices. Additionally, he is one of the few surgeons nationwide who has FDA approval for next generation devices that may be suitable for patients with all types of aneurysms that involve the chest and abdomen (TAAA). Dr. Black also collaborates with surgeons in the fields of neurosurgery, surgical oncology and urology to provide vascular reconstructions of all territories in the body to allow cure from cancerous tumors. Many patients are often unfairly denied a chance at cure for fear of involvement of nearby vessels. Dr. Black and colleagues have published their results for reconstruction of veins and nearby arteries for pancreatic cancer and renal cell carcinoma cure. Dr. Black joined the surgical faculty of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2004. He completed his General Vascular Surgery Fellowship in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and received his General Surgery Training in the Halsted General Surgery Training Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Black maintains an active practice in all aspects of vascular surgery. In addition to his interest with open surgical reconstruction of complex aortic disease, he aggressively pursues the application of minimally invasive endovascular technologies for patients with occlusive disease of the carotid, renal, mesenteric, and lower extremity arteries. His research interests include the cellular and molecular events underpinning the development of aortic catastrophe in both atherosclerotic and connective tissue disorders, as well as diagnosis of aortic dissection and malperfusion syndromes. He has also devised protocols that make surgery safer at Hopkins and these have been shared nationwide for the betterment of the field. To support Dr. Black's research, visit: https://secure.jhu.edu/form/Black