Richard J. Wood, MBChB, FCPS(SA), serves as Chief of the Department of Pediatric General Surgery and Colorectal & Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery. He is a Professor of Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Wood’s areas of clinical interest are complex pelvic reconstructive surgery including anorectal malformations, cloacal malformations, Hirschsprung disease and the surgical management of severe constipation and colonic dysmotility in children.

Dr. Wood’s surgical expertise is expansive – he has extensive experience in the reconstruction of anorectal malformations, cloacal malformations, cloacal exstrophy and Hirschsprung disease. He also has deep experience in re-operative colorectal surgery and surgical reconstructions resulting from the rarest of conditions, such as complex cloaca and complex vaginal reconstruction.

Dr. Wood trained in general surgery in South Africa and England. He completed pediatric surgery fellowship training at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. This hospital serves as the national resource for the care of complex pediatric colorectal surgical patients. He further completed pediatric colorectal fellowship training at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio prior to being recruited to join as faculty. Dr Wood has travelled extensively to teach, train and operate in North and Central America, Europe, the UK, Asia, Australia and Africa. He has trained fellows from 16 different countries in Columbus as well as from all over the United States.

He has been prolific in his academic productivity, publishing more than 200 peer reviewed journal articles as well as book chapters on cloacal malformations, anorectal malformations and Hirschsprung disease.