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Department of Surgery

Similar to many successful organizations, the Department of Surgery is significantly more than the sum of its parts. It is comprised of the relationships and interactions amongst the faculty, residents, students, staff, patients, and colleagues which define the culture of the department, a culture of excellence, compassion, diversity, inquiry, collegiality and vision. The culture of the department is perpetuated by a continual focus on integrating and balancing educational, research, and patient care missions. This focus is promoted by a vast network of functional ties that have been cultivated over many years between the department, the medical school, and affiliated teaching hospitals, each of which provide the very best in services and facilities.

The philosophy of surgery at New York Medical College is to provide an environment attractive to the best academic surgeons, where their teaching and patient care are co-mingled with the phenomenal technological resources that have revolutionized modern surgery and reduced morbidity and mortality. The use of minimally invasive techniques and interventional access of the vascular system has radically changed our approach to the performance of many procedures, specifically, robotic surgery, endovascular surgery, transcatheter aortic and mitral valve replacement, advanced laparoscopy, and videoscopic thoracic surgery to name a few.

The Westchester Medical Center, which consistently has had the highest patient severity of illness index in the USA, provides the three and one half million residents in the Hudson Valley the only American College of Surgeons Level 1 Verified Trauma Center. The Department of Surgery is composed of the following divisions: (1) General Surgery, (2) Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (3) Bariatric & Minimally Invasive Surgery (4) Burn Surgery (5) Cardiothoracic and Cardiac Transplantation Surgery (6) Thoracic Surgery (7) Vascular & Endovascular Surgery (8) Intra-abdominal Transplantation (adult and pediatric liver and kidney) (9) Plastic and Reconstructive (10) Pediatric Surgery (11) Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery (12) Colorectal Surgery (13) Surgical Oncology and (14) Integrated Wound Care.

The General Surgery residents are exposed to a wide variety of procedures: esophagus, gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary pancreatic, colorectal, endocrine, oncologic, pulmonary, bariatric, and minimally invasive and image guided surgeries. Surgical residents are granted graded autonomy in diagnosis and clinical decision making, pre- and post-operative care, and supervision in the operating room, in addition to development of their critical thinking and deductive reasoning abilities. The trainees are provided a vigorous clinical and basic science educational and research program along with development of their technical skills in the simulation center. The infrastructure of the Department of Surgery is strong and the financial base is stable with educational programs that are thriving, research programs that are expanding, and faculty development meeting with progressively increasing success.

Louis R.M. Del Guercio, M.D. Professorship and Research Day, is an annual symposium designed for Surgeons, Interventional Radiologists, Anesthesiologists, Intensivists, Researchers and other Allied Health Care professionals involved in the surgical arena. Through presentations and lectures, it is anticipated that upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to gain knowledge about new developments in surgical research and surgical critical care.

Research

Research is an important component of the activities of the Department of Surgery at Westchester Medical Center. The faculty at both the Medical Center and nearby New York Medical College works cooperatively on clinical and laboratory research.

Residents are encouraged to participate in New York Medical College research projects and many opt for elective 12-month rotations in research programs, usually after the third year. State-of-the-art facilities are available for the trainee’s use in research. These include the latest laboratory equipment and technology, an animal facility with an operating room and advanced computer systems. The additional surgical research year may also be spent in other university research laboratories in which case residents must seek funding from the sponsoring institution.

The surgical faculty has a strong record of publications in major scientific journals. Residents present research results at national surgical meetings and are expected to assume authorship or co-authorship of a publication of original work during the five-year program.

The Department of Surgery of New York Medical College and Westchester Medical Center invites you to participate in the Annual Dr. Louis R.M. Del Guercio Annual Visiting Professorship and Research Day. This annual event commemorates Dr. Del Guercio’s 25 years of distinguished leadership of the Department of Surgery, and stimulates and promotes surgical research throughout New York Medical College and its affiliated institutions.

Divisions

  • General Surgery
  • Bariatric & Minimally Invasive Surgery
  • Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
  • Burn Surgery
  • Cardiothoracic and Cardiac Transplantation Surgery
  • Thoracic Surgery
  • Vascular & Endovascular Surgery
  • Intra-abdominal Transplantation (adult and pediatric liver and kidney) Surgery
  • Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
  • Pediatric Surgery 
  • Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Colorectal Surgery
  • Surgical Oncology
  • Integrated Wound Care

Surgery Residency

In conjunction with the values of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan and sponsoring institution, the program has the mission statement: To educate physicians in providing competent, culturally sensitive, quality care to all in the community with dignity and compassion, without exception, and regardless of the ability to pay, in a respectful manner, in a humane and safe environment, in an atmosphere of excellence, scholarship, professionalism, and inclusivity. The NYMC Department of Surgery General Surgery Residency Program at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan is committed to the surgical education of its residents. In addition to weekly educational conferences at each participating institution dedicated to residents currently rotating there, our residents converge monthly at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan with faculty members on Academic "Mega Wednesday" mornings for three-hour sessions of departmental academic conferences. These hours are protected time for the residents: physician assistants and covering house physicians at the participating hospitals hold floor pagers to manage non-urgent matters. Mock ABSITE and mock orals are given over the academic year. 

Learn more about the NYMC residency program here.

Meet the Team

Department Chair

Steven Lansman, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery
Director of Surgery, Westchester Medical Center Health Network
(914) 594-2050 NYMC
(914) 493-8790 WMC

Vice-Chair of Research

Kartik  Prabhakaran, M.D., MHS, FACS
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
New York Medical College School of Medicine
(914) 493-6826

Vice-Chair of Education

Hiroshi Sogawa, M.D., FACS
Professor of Surgery
Clerkship Director,
Undergraduate Surgical Education
New York Medical College School of Medicine
(914) 594-2055

Vice-Chair of Quality

Jordan Kirsch, M.D.,  FACS
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
New York Medical College School of Medicine
(914) 493-8874

 Vice-Chair of Diversity

Heena Rajdeo, M.D.,  FACS
Assistant Professor of Surgery
New York Medical College School of Medicine
(914) 493-7378

Undergraduate Surgical Education Coordinator - Clerkship Program

Deanna Cherry
Clerkship Education Coordinator, 
(914) 594-2055

Department of Surgery Administrator

Krist Nikolla, M.P.H.
Administrator, Department of Surgery 1S-B60
New York Medical College School of Medicine
40 Sunshine Cottage Rd.
Valhalla, NY  10595
(914) 594-2052

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