Sara Welinsky, MD

Joshua R. Sonett MD FACS is the Edward C. and Anne K. Weiskopf Professor of Surgical Oncology (in Surgery) at CUMC, Chief of General Thoracic Surgery and Director, The Price Family Center for Comprehensive Chest Care, Lung and Esophageal Center. He is instrumental in making the Thoracic Surgery section at Columbia University Medical Center one of the best in the U.S. and he is one of the youngest professors of surgery at a major academic institution in the United States. Dr. Sonett is best known for his work on the multidisciplinary treatment of lung and esophageal malignancies. Leading work in minimally invasive treatment of lung and esophageal cancer, Dr. Sonett and his team at Columbia are innovators in the development and teaching techniques of Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) and Minimally Invasive Esophageal (MIE) surgery, allowing surgeons to incorporate these techniques into their daily practices. Dr. Sonett and his team make up one of the few programs in the country to employ a combination of maximal chemo and radiation and surgical therapies in the treatment of locally advanced lung malignancies. He is also a leader in multi-modality therapies for lung and esophageal cancers, and a pioneer in endo-bronchial palliation of benign and malignant airway stenosis. In the clinical area of lung transplantation, Dr. Sonett is best known for developing an extended-donor lung transplant criteria protocol. Extended donor criteria (EDC) applies to the use of organs that don't meet the usual criteria for transplantation due to various health problems, but are still healthy enough for a successful transplant (Liver MD 2006). Dr. Sonett and his team have been aggressively trying to alleviate the donor shortage by evaluating lungs that may be rejected from other centers (CS News 2005). Between 2001 and 2003, 53 percent of the lungs transplanted at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia were extended donor criteria lungs, with no difference in survival between EDC lung recipients and regular lung recipients. The Columbia programs has a 95% survival rate after one year and 83% after three years, which far surpasses the national average of 79% and 62% respectively (CS Lung News 2006). Dr. Sonett has been an invited speaker and principal and co- investigator of numerous clinical trials, author of numerous publications in renown journals such as the Journal of The American College of Cardiology, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, and the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplant, among many others. Dr. Sonett received his MD from Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University Medical School, and completed his surgical residency at the University of Massachusetts, and Thoracic Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Professional Memberships include the New York Thoracic Society, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgeons Dr. Sonett has received numerous award and honors including annual awards to America's Top Doctors, Castle Connolly America's Top Doctors for Cancer, New York Magazine's Best Doctors, the Barbara Neibauer Celebration of Life Award, Foundation for Thymic Cancer and the Humanitarian Award, Chesed of New Square.

Andrew S. Bomback, MD, MPH, is a nephrologist who specializes in glomerular diseases and resistant hypertension. Dr. Bomback received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Nephrology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was the Doc J. Thurston III Fellow in Nephrology and Hypertension. In 2009, he returned to Columbia University as an associate at the Center for Glomerular Diseases and is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Bomback is a member of the ColumbiaDoctors Hypertension Center, a multi-disciplinary center of excellence that provides high quality care and state-of-the-art diagnostic testing for patients with hypertension, Dr. Bomback has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the subjects of chronic kidney disease, glomerular diseases, and hypertension. He is the co-author of the textbook, Chronic Kidney Disease and Hypertension Essentials, and an editor of the National Kidney Foundation's Primer on Kidney Diseases. He is the recipient of the 2013 Daniel V. Kimberg Junior Faculty Award for oustanding teaching of medical students and housestaff. Dr. Bomback's research interests focus on evaluating novel therapies for glomerular diseases. He currently serves as principal or co-investigator on clinical trials of new treatments for IgA nephropathy, membranous nephropathy, lupus glomerulonephritis, hereditary nephritis, C3 glomerulopathy, and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Dr. Ravi P. Kiran is the co-director of the Global Center for Integrated Colorectal Surgery and IBD Interventional Endoscopy at NewYork-Presbyerian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Prior to that, he served as chief and program director of the Division of Colorectal Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center for over a decade. He is also the Director of the Center for Innovation and Outcomes Research in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Kiran, a renowned surgeon-scientist with expertise in inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and other complicated colorectal conditions, joined NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia from the Cleveland Clinic, where he was staff surgeon and head of the research section in the Department of Colorectal Surgery and director of its Rupert B. Turnbull Jr. School of Enterostomal Therapy. Dr. Kiran brings a wealth of experience in laparoscopic and open colorectal surgery, anorectal procedures and reoperative abdominal and pelvic surgery. With expertise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) like complex Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, he specializes in bowel conservation as well as avoiding an ostomy (external bag) for these conditions when others may be unable. Having trained with Dr Victor Fazio at the Cleveland Clinic, he is an expert at pouch procedures. In addition to J and S pouch creation, he has experience in the repair, revision and redo of these pouches when pouch failure occurs. In addition to IBD, he is also expert in the surgical management of primary and recurrent colon and rectal cancer, diverticulitis, enterocutaneous fistula, functional bowel problems including constipation, incontinence and pelvic floor disorders. He is one of only a few highly skilled surgeons world-wide to perform continent ileostomy reservoir procedures and other complex operations to avoid a permanent ostomy after rectal or colon resection. As a researcher, Dr. Kiran has specific interests in surgical outcomes and quality and in evidence-based strategies for inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions. With a joint appointment at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Kiran facilitates research collaborations in epidemiology between the Department of Surgery and the Mailman School. Dr. Kiran received his medical degree from and completed surgical training at Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, India, and received advanced training in colorectal surgery in the United Kingdom. He completed his general surgery residency at Yale-Saint Mary’s Hospital and Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center and fellowship training in colorectal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board certified in surgery and in colon and rectal surgery from the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (FASCRS) and is a fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England and Glasgow. The author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Kiran is also an editor and reviewer for numerous prominent journals and textbooks. As a student and physician, he has earned several distinctions, including the National Merit Scholarship and Gold Medals during his medical education and surgical training in India, Resident Researcher of the Year during surgical residency, Teacher of the Year in Colorectal Surgery at Cleveland Clinic in 2011, and the ASCRS Travelling Fellow Award in 2012. He has been voted to the list of Best Doctors in New York many times. Dr Kiran has a patient-centered approach to care and is available to see patients at the Main Campus, Midtown and New Jersey colorectal surgery office locations. Watch Video Profile