Ryalynn Morgan Carter, MD

Koji Takeda, MD, PhD is a cardiac surgeon and Surgical Director for Adult Heart Transplant at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Takeda has a focus on heart failure, heart transplant surgery and mechanical circulatory support through ventricular assist devices (VADs). In addition to his clinical work, he is an active researcher in all of these areas, as well as in cardiac regeneration therapy. Dr. Takeda completed his medical training, post-graduate training, residency and fellowship in Osaka, Japan, after which he completed an advanced cardiovascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University, Chicago. He is the recipient of multiple honors and awards including the American College of Chest Physicians Award, Japan Branch, 2009; and chief resident award and best resident award, 2005, at the National Cardiovascular Center, Osaka, Japan.

Dr. Abraham Krikhely is the Chief of the Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatric Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Krikhely is an experienced minimally invasive surgeon specializing in robotic, laparoscopic and endoscopic approaches to metabolic and weight loss surgery, foregut surgery and general surgery. Dr. Krikhely obtained his undergraduate degree from NYU Stern School of Business and his medical degree from NYU School of Medicine. He stayed at NYU for his residency training in General Surgery, after which he completed his fellowship training in Bariatric and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Montefiore Medical Center. After building a successful practice focusing on bariatric and minimally invasive abdominal surgery as part of the full-time faculty at Maimonides Medical Center, he was recruited to join the faculty at Columbia University in 2015. He was an early proponent of robotic bariatric surgery and has also chaired the robotic surgery committee at Columbia since 2017, where he has contributed to building and growing the robotic surgery program at Columbia. He is also the program director for the Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatric Surgery at Columbia University. Dr. Krikhely has authored multiple textbook chapters on bariatric surgery, robotic surgery, and foregut surgery, given numerous lectures and proctored many surgeons on the use of robotic surgery.

Dr. Francisco Guzman-Pruneda is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Columbia University Medical Center. He is the Associate Program Director for the Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery Fellowship Program, and the Surgical Director for the Gastroparesis program at Columbia University. He is Board Certified in Surgery by the American Board of Surgery, and is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He completed his Medical School training in Monterrey, Mexico, his residency in General Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and a fellowship in Bariatric Surgery at Mount Sinai in New York City. In addition, Dr. Guzman-Pruneda completed two research fellowships: in Immunology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer and in Pediatric Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital (Baylor College of Medicine), and a Global Surgery Exchange Program in Sydney, Australia.Dr. Guzman’s practice focuses on minimally invasive (laparoscopic & robotic) bariatric and foregut surgery. In addition to performing first-time weight loss operations, a significant part of his practice includes revisional or corrective surgery to address problems with previous bariatric operations. From a foregut surgery perspective, he performs hiatal / paraesophageal hernia repairs and anti-reflux surgery. Additional areas of expertise include peritoneal dialysis access surgery and is leads the surgical management for advanced gastroparesis patients that fail to respond to medical therapy, including implantation of Enterra gastric stimulator device.