Colorectal surgeon Melissa M. Murphy, MD, MPH, has joined the Kent Hospital medical staff and Affinity Physicians, an affiliate of Care New England Health System. Murphy comes to Kent from Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Boston, Mass., where she completed a colorectal fellowship.  

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Murphy to Kent Hospital and are greatly looking forward to expanding our surgical services to the patients of our community,” said Sandra L. Coletta, COO Care New England, president and CEO of Kent Hospital. “Dr. Murphy’s knowledge, expertise and extensive colorectal training will advance the level of care offered locally and will play an important role in further developing Kent and Care New England’s colorectal surgery program.”

Murphy is board certified and works with a team of medical and radiation oncologists so patients are offered a multi-disciplinary approach to necessary cancer care. In addition to being part of the surgical program at Kent, she has also joined the surgical staff at Women & Infants Hospital and is on staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Murphy received her medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Prior to medical school; she received her Master of Public Health and Master of Medical Science degrees from Boston University. Murphy completed a research fellowship and her general surgery residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed her fellowship in colorectal surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, and Annals of Surgery. She has won several awards during her training, including H. Brownwell Wheeler Award Outstanding Resident, and awards for her research from the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and from the New England Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery. Dr. Murphy is an instructor in surgery at Harvard Medical School. 

Her clinical interests include colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diverticulitis and fecal incontinence. In addition, she is now bringing to Kent advanced laparoscopic colorectal surgery, transanal microscopic surgery and sphincter sparing surgery.