Rai Kanti MD

Antonio Alfonso, MD, is vice chair of surgery and director of surgical education at Northwell Health. He specializes in head and neck endocrine surgery and sees patients with thyroid and parathyroid tumors. Dr. Alfonso’s father, a surgeon and academic, had a big influence on his son’s career choice. “My father was disciplined and ethical, and the type of doctor I wanted to be,” he says. Today, Dr. Alfonso has more than 50 years of surgical experience behind him and has trained hundreds of surgical residents. Dr. Alfonso earned his medical degree at the University of the Philippines and completed his residency in general surgery at Temple University Hospital. He continued his training with a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He arrived at Northwell in 2017 from State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center, where he was a distinguished teaching professor and Clarence & Mary Dennis chair of the department of surgery. The safe and effective surgical removal of thyroid and parathyroid tumors with excellent cosmetic results is Dr. Alfonso’s standard of care. He values team-based treatment plans and routinely works with nuclear medicine imaging specialists, endocrinologists, other head and neck surgeons, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists. They meet on a weekly basis to discuss strategies for managing especially complex tumors. Dr. Alfonso has served in numerous regional and national leadership positions; he has served as governor-at-large of the American College of Surgeons and as president of the New York Surgical Society, New York Head and Neck Society, Tri-Borough Directors of Surgery Association and president of the New York Cancer Society. Dr. Alfonso has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and textbook chapters. Earlier in his career, he was instrumental in developing bloodless surgery for cancer patients, an approach that avoids blood transfusions during procedures. He has also received the distinction of meeting the Castle Connelly Top Doctor criteria for 20 consecutive years. For Dr. Alfonso, establishing long-term relationships with his patients is one of the best parts of his job. “I really get to know people,” he says. “In fact, patients from years ago call me up—I still have the same cell phone number—asking me to see a family member. That’s the type of practice I have.”

Danielle DePeralta, MD, FACS is double board-certified in surgery and surgical oncology, with dual fellowship training in complex surgical oncology and hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery. She specializes in surgical treatment of diseases of the liver, pancreas, and gastrointestinal tract. Named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor in 2021 and 2022, Dr. DePeralta is a leader in her field and is an active member of the Society of Surgical Oncology, American College of Surgeons and International Hepatopancreatobiliary Association. She is the Northwell Physician Champion for the Canopy Cancer Collective, a multi-center team that focuses on improving care for patients with pancreatic cancer. She is also heavily involved in clinical trials and innovations related to cancer care, including regional therapies that target cancer that has spread but is still localized to the liver or peritoneal cavity. She was instrumental in bringing pressurized intraperitoneal aerosolized chemotherapy (PIPAC)-a treatment that can help those with few options-to New York. Long Island Jewish Medical Center is now one of only three sites in the nation to offer such therapy.Treating some of the most aggressive cancers, Dr. DePeralta knows she's seeing patients at their most vulnerable moments. While focusing on giving them their lives back, she often forms close relationships with her patients. "I try to treat all of my patients the way that I hope someone would care for my mother, my husband, my son," she says.Connecting with patients meaningfully is important to Dr. DePeralta, who has a special interest in the human side of medicine. She studied philosophy in college alongside molecular biology and biochemistry. She also completed a medical ethics fellowship during her surgical residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Her training has taken her around the world to Uganda, Panama and India, which has fueled her interest in global health and quality health care for all.Her compassion is also shared by her team, from the care navigators and office staff to the nurses and residents. "We're very lucky to be so well-supported with a great team that cares a lot about our patients," Dr. DePeralta says.Having a team like this serves to strengthen the bonds with her patients, who she learns from each day. "They teach me that you have to keep trying-keep pushing and it's my job to keep supporting them.It's extremely rewarding to treat someone who was very sick, who you see a year down the road is cancer-free and living a normal life."

As Senior Vice President of the Urology Service Line, Chair of the Smith Institute for Urology, and Chair of Urology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Samir Taneja, MD will establish his clinical practice at Lenox Hill Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center focused on the surgical management of prostate cancer and renal tumors. He is an expert in urologic oncology, renowned for transforming the field of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment by improving methods of prostate imaging, cancer detection, and disease localization. Having performed thousands of robotic, ablative, laparoscopic and open surgical procedures, his specific clinical focus has been in improving prostate cancer patient outcomes through pioneering techniques for focal ablative therapy, refining surgical techniques for robotic prostatectomy and partial nephrectomy, devising accelerated recovery pathways for robotic prostatectomy/partial nephrectomy, and providing muti-modal surgical approaches for patients with high risk and recurrent prostate cancer. As leader of the department, he will strive to ensure individualized care of urologic disease through state-of-the-art surgical approaches and multi-disciplinary care.Prior to joining Northwell, Dr Taneja was a faculty member of NYU Grossman School of Medicine for 29-years as a tenured professor of urology, radiology, and biomedical engineering. Most recently he served as Director of the Division of Urologic Oncology and Vice Chair in the Department of Urology at NYU Langone Health, as well as Genitourinary Program Leader in the Perlmutter Cancer Center.Dr. Taneja has conducted extensive clinical research on the use of imaging in prostate cancer and is considered a pioneer in the use of MRI to diagnose and localize prostate cancer and the emerging field of prostate cancer focal therapy. He has authored more than 250 articles, 30 book chapters, and six textbooks and monographs on urologic cancer and surgery. He is the editor of Taneja's Complications of Urologic Surgery: Prevention and Diagnosis, one of the most widely read textbooks in American Urology.