Team
Dr. Devin O'Brien Coon, MD, MSE
(he/him/his)
Principal Investigator, Surgeon-Scientist
Dr. Devin O’Brien Coon is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Previously, his clinical practice and research lab were based at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he was Associate Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Biomedical Engineering (now part-time faculty). He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated magna cum laude and received a Dean’s Research Fellowship and Dean’s Merit Scholarship. He also holds a Master’s of Science in biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering. He completed his general surgery and plastic surgery training at the Johns Hopkins University/University of Maryland integrated residency program.
Dr. O’Brien Coon has published over 80 publications and received numerous awards, including the BioMaryland LIFE (Leading Innovative Faculty Entrepreneurs) award. He is a two-time recipient of the D. Ralph Millard award from the Plastic Surgery Foundation for best scientific plastic surgery manuscript and was named a 2013 Innovator of the Year by the Maryland Daily Record. He directs a basic science research laboratory that focuses on materials science and tissue engineering for surgical applications. He is one of a select group of physicians to have invented and developed medical devices (including a bioresorbable surgical implant and a 3-D ultrasound imaging system) through the entire development process from initial concept, testing, and FDA approval to clinical use. He is also an NIH-funded researcher whose inventions have led to numerous patents and a venture-backed startup company
Dr. Mira Rahmayanti, MD
(she/her/hers)
Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow,
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Mira obtained her medical degree from Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia. Before joining the Coon Lab, Mira worked in a variety of positions including as a postdoctoral research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital and as a General Practitioner in Indonesia. Her current research interests include wound healing and high throughput screening. Outside of the lab, Mira enjoys reading and
exploring the city.
Dr. Samuel A. Knoedler, MD
(he/him/his)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow,
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Samuel is a physician-scientist and plastic surgery resident from Munich, Germany. Before joining the Coon Lab, he gained international clinical and research experience across Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. His scientific work focuses on wound healing, regenerative medicine, and data-driven outcomes research in plastic surgery, while his clinical interests center on breast and aesthetic surgery. Outside of work, Samuel enjoys sports and fitness, exploring emerging technologies, and spending time with family and friends.
Vance Soares, MSE
(he/him/his)
Doctoral Student, Biomedical Engineering
Vance graduated with a BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 2016. He then worked at the Langer Lab at MIT, Ocular Therapeutix, and Proven Process Medical Devices before starting a PhD program in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. His research interests include wound healing, organ transplantation, and 3D bioprinting. Outside of work, Vance likes reading, gardening, physical fitness like swimming and rock climbing, and playing with his cat.
Calvin Schuster, BS
(he/him/his)
Medical Student
Calvin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 2019. He did research at Dana Farber for a year before starting medical school at Johns Hopkins. His research interests include nerve regeneration and dermal wound healing. When not studying or doing research, Calvin enjoys going to the gym and playing piano.
Sabrina Sy, BS
(she/her/hers)
Medical Student
Sabrina is an M.D. candidate in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Program. She graduated from the University of Southern California in 2023 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies. Her research interests include gender affirming surgery, computational outcomes modeling, and medical device innovation. In her free time, she enjoys ceramics, floral design, and reading.
Lab Alumni
Erik Reiche, MD
Sophia Hu, BS
Vanessa Mroueh, MD
Jessica Mroueh, MD
Hunter Hoover-Watson, MS
Andrew Marano, MD
Patrick Keller, MD
Yu Tan, PhD
Sophia Preston, MD
Allister Suarez, PhD
Wilmina Landford, MD
Roberto Travieso, MD
Norah Oles, MD
Sophia Nakuchima, BS
Matthew Louis, MD
Matthew Garza, BS
Nicholas Calotta, MD