Cheguevara Afaneh Bariatric Surgeon MD

 Cheguevara Afaneh, MD, FACS is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He serves as the Program Director of the Advanced GI and Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is the Director of the Cornell Comprehensive Hernia Center. He specializes in Robotic Surgery, General surgery, Foregut surgery, Bariatric surgery, as well as gastroesophageal motility disorders and colorectal disorders. He has a special interest in minimal access surgery, including  single-incision laparoscopy and single-incision robotic surgery, offering patients improved cosmesis and potentially less postoperative pain. He also has expertise in Endoscopy (both EGDs and Colonoscopies), BRAVO wireless pH probe monitoring, and High-resolution Esophageal Manometry. Dr. Afaneh also offers Linx as a treatment for GERD. For more information on the BRAVO pH probe, please view our video in the media section.  He offers Endoscopic Intragastric Balloon Therapy for the treatment of Obesity. Dr. Afaneh was the first surgeon in New York City to successfully perform Totally Robotic Bariatric Surgery (Sleeve Gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass) in 2015 and has performed Robotic-assisted Single-Anastomosis Duodenal Switch and Robotic-assisted One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass procedures. Dr. Afaneh successfully performed a Robotic Sleeve Gastrectomy without the use of any staples. Dr. Afaneh has successfully completed over 1600 robotic procedures. His expertise in robotic surgery has aided in expanding the frontiers of robotics in the Department of Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. On September 9, 2016, Dr. Karim Halazun and Dr. Cheguevara Afaneh successfully performed the first Totally Robotic Liver Resection (Extended Left Hepatectomy) at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Afaneh has trained many surgeons in the New York City area in robotic surgery, with a wide range of specialties including Colorectal Surgery, Hepatobiliary Surgery, Bariatric Surgery as well as General Surgery. Dr. Afaneh received his BS in 2003 from the University of  Miami, FL, and earned his MD from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/The Chicago Medical School, IL, in 2007.  He completed his general surgery internship and residency training and a surgical research fellowship in transplantation medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Additionally, he was named the Administrative Chief Resident of his graduating residency class. He subsequently completed his Advanced GI & Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Afaneh has authored over 65 articles in peer reviewed journals, co-edited a textbook, authored >20 textbook chapters, and has given more than 75 national and international presentations. Dr. Afaneh has won many awards and honors including being selected for Alpha Omega Alpha in 2007, and was named twice to Cambridge’s Who’s Who among Executives and Professionals.  He received Genzyme Fellow’s Clinical Science Award in 2010, the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Falcon Award in 2011, the First place Resident Research Award at the 2nd Annual Scott & White’s Surgical Innovations Conference in 2012, the 13th Annual Hassan Naama Chief Resident Teaching Award in 2014, received 2nd Place in the Top Gun Competition at the annual meeting for the Society for Laparoendoscopic Surgeons in 2014, and received the 2015 Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract Residents and Fellows Research Conference Presentation Award. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Surgical Endoscopy, Obesity Surgery, Surgical Infections, Cancer Investigation, BMC Surgery, World Journal of Gastroenterology & Surgery for Obesity & Other Related Disorders. Dr. Afaneh has been invited to give lectures both nationally and internationally on topics ranging from Robotic Bariatric Surgery to Foregut Disease such as Gastroparesis, GERD, and Achalasia. On October 27, 2016 Dr. Afaneh was invited and participated in a panel discussing the current status and the future of Robotic surgery at the 92nd St Y in New York City. In March 2018 he discussed his use of biosynthetic mesh for hernia repair at the American Hernia Society. Dr. Afaneh has been named by the New York Times as a Super Doctor Rising Star in 2018, 2019, and 2020 as one of the top doctors in New York.  Dr. Afaneh is Board Certified in General Surgery. He has also has certifications in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) and the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES). He is a member of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), Association for Academic Surgery (AAS), Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), New York Academy of Science (NYAS), Society for Surgeons of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY), International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO), and the Society of Robotic Surgery (SRS).  He serves on the Education/Curriculum Committee for the Fellowship Council as the SSAT Representative and has served on the Advanced GI Surgery Training Taskforce for the SSAT. He also serves as a member of the ASMBS Flexible Endoscopy Committee and ASMBS Clinical Issues Committee. He is the American College of Surgeons Committe on Applicants Chair for Manhattan District #2 and also serves as the SAGES Champion for New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Afaneh is fluent in both Spanish and Arabic.

• Piotr Gorecki — Brooklyn, NY

• Rajeev Vohra — Hewlett, NY

• Philip Weber — White Plains, NY