Laparoscopic Gallbladder Removal Cholecystectomy near Astoria, NY

Biography: If you need assistance in Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), please call 646-317-6325. Visit Columbia Liver Asian Outreach Office (English | Mandarin) Tomoaki Kato, M.D., is a noted pioneer in multiple-organ transplantation, pediatric and adult liver transplantation. Dr. Kato is Surgical Director of Adult and Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is a professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Kato is known for unique and innovative surgeries for adults and children, including a six-organ transplant; a procedure called APOLT (auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation) that resuscitates a failing liver by attaching a partial donor liver, making immunosuppressant drugs unnecessary and the first successful human partial bladder transplantation involving the transplant of two kidneys together with ureters connected to a patch of the donor bladder. In a highly publicized case, he led the first reported removal and re-implantation, or auto-transplantation, of six organs to excise a hard-to-reach abdominal tumor. Previously the director of pediatric liver and gastrointestinal transplant and professor of clinical surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Kato received his medical degree from the Osaka University Medical School in Japan and received his residency training in surgery at Osaka University Hospital and Itami City Hospital in Hyogo, Japan. He completed a clinical fellowship in transplantation at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, in Miami, Florida, where he was subsequently appointed to the surgical faculty in 1997, and promoted to full professor in 2007. He served as a surgeon and senior leader of the liver and transplantation center at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, beginning in 1997, and at University of Miami Hospital (previously Cedars Medical Center), beginning in 2004. Dr. Kato is a member of numerous professional and honorary organizations, and the author or co-author of more than 180 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. Visit The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at columbiasurgery.org/liver

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Biography: Dr. William Middlesworth joined the medical staff of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia (MSCHONY), Division of Pediatric Surgery in 1997. He currently serves as director of the Pediatric ECMO Program, and Residency Program Director of the Pediatric Surgical Fellowship. Dr. Middlesworth has founded and leads the Pediatric Thyroid Center and the REACH (Researching Esophageal Atresia for Children's Health) Clinic. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Dr. Middlesworth spent two years in the Genetics Department at the Boston Children's Hospital on work leading to the identification and characterization of the dystrophin gene, important in the pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy. He went on to medical school at Rutgers University, and completed his general surgery training at the University of Maryland Medical System. During residency he spent a year as a surgical research fellow at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. His pediatric surgery fellowship was completed at MSCHONY. In addition to the responsibilities listed above, Dr. Middlesworth serves on numerous hospital and university committees focused on Quality and Patient Safety, and is the Quality Chair for Columbia Department of Surgery. He is the Surgeon Champion at the Columbia campus for the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP) of the American College of Surgeons. He chairs a multi-institution collaborative to reduce harm and enhance safety in the peri-operative setting that is sponsored by MCIC Vermont, the member-owned malpractice insurance carrier for Columbia, Cornell, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, University of Rochester Medicine and Yale. Dr. Middlesworth is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is a member of numerous professional organizations dedicated to advancing the surgical care of infants and children, including the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA), the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma(EAST) and the Extra-corporeal Life Support Organization(ELSO), among others. Dr. Middlesworth has been selected as a Best Doctor in New York Magazine, and a Castle Connolly Top Doctor. He has received recognition for excellence in teaching, and authored numerous papers in important journals including the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, the Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.