Jeffrey S Yager M D

Dr. Bajakian comes to Columbia from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, where she was Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery. She earned her MD degree in 1996 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn. She completed her internship and general surgery residency at Mount Sinai (1996-2001), her vascular surgery fellowship at New York University Medical Center (2002-2003), and a mini-fellowship focusing on endovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in 2003. Her clinical specialties include endovascular techniques for treating peripheral arterial disease, aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease, and lower extremity venous insufficiency. Her research interests focus on novel techniques for restoring circulation to the ischemic limb including angioplasty, atherectomy, and stent placement.

James Church, MD is a colorectal surgeon who cares for all aspects of colorectal disease, with a particular focus on hereditary colorectal cancers and polyposis. Born and raised in New Zealand, Dr. Church did his medical school, postgraduate research and general surgical training in Auckland before training in colorectal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and eventually joining the faculty there. Over the 34 years that followed, he played an instrumental role in developing what was widely considered the finest Department of Colorectal Surgery in the world. Dr. Church has been co-Investigator of the Collaborative Colorectal Cancer Family Registry, funded by a research grant from the National Cancer Institute. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of the Leeds Castle Polyposis Group and the International Collaborative Group on Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer and President of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal Cancer. These international societies are dedicated to the care of patients with inherited colorectal cancer and research into their disease. Dr. Church’s other areas of interests include colonoscopy, functional colorectal and anal problems including constipation and incontinence, perianal and perineal infections and inflammatory bowel disease. As head of the Section of Endoscopy at Cleveland Clinic, he helped develop several advances in the art of colonoscopy for the benefit of patients. He is also deeply commitment to education and is currently a Fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, Costa Rican Society of Surgery, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, American College of Gastroenterology, American Surgical Association and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow.