Ashutosh Tewari


Ashutosh K. Tewari is the chairman of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He is a board certified American urologist, oncologist, and principal investigator. Before moving to the Icahn School of Medicine in 2013, he was the founding director of both the Center for Prostate Cancer at Weill Cornell Medical College and the LeFrak Center for Robotic Surgery at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Tewari was the Ronald P. Lynch endowed Chair of Urologic Oncology and the hospital's Director of Robotic Prostatectomy, treating patients with prostate, urinary bladder and other urological cancers. He is a world leading urological surgeon, and has performed over 9,000 robotically assisted procedures using the da Vinci Surgical System. Academically, he is recognized as a world-renowned expert on urologic oncology with over 250 peer reviewed published papers to his credit; he is on such lists as America's Top Doctors, New York Magazine's Best Doctors, and Who's Who in the World. In 2012, he was given the American Urological Association Gold Cystoscope Award for "outstanding contributions to the field of urologic oncology, most notably the treatment of prostate cancer and the development of novel techniques to improve the outcomes of robotic prostatectomy."

Robotic prostatectomy

With the introduction of the da Vinci Surgical System, the advent of robotic surgery using a laparoscopic approach has significantly changed the way prostate cancer surgery and prostatectomy procedures in general are performed as compared to the traditional 'open' methodology. Much of Tewari's research projects serve to promote robotic surgery as opposed to open procedures. For example, Tewari has shown that the operating field has become more visible to the surgeon, unobscured by the copious amounts of blood encountered in traditional surgery and is thus able to view the urological structures under three-dimensional, enlarged magnification. Patients reap even greater benefits. Due to the minimally invasive nature of the procedure, they experience minimized pain, minimized blood loss, less scarring and fewer complications. Post-surgery recovery is accelerated and patients experience quicker return to urinary continence and sexual function. Some of Tewari's current research is focused on comparing the benefits of robot-assisted surgery with traditional open prostatic surgery.

Career

On 15 October 2013, Dr. Tewari was named the chairman of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Previously he served as Director of the Lefrak Institute of Robotic Surgery, Director of Prostate cancer, as well as the Director of Robotic Prostatectomy and Prostate Cancer-Urologic Oncology Outcomes at the Brady Urology Foundation of Weill Medical College. He is a tenured Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In addition, Tewari directs a fellowship program in Robotic Prostatectomy and Prostate Cancer Outcomes that has conducted research comparing robotic surgery outcomes versus those of laparoscopic and open surgeries. Tewari is an Attending physician at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Medical degree

Receiving his medical degree from Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College in Kanpur city of Uttar Pradesh, India, Tewari graduated with honors in 1984 with 17 gold academic medals to credit. He received his training in urology from Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in India under the mentorship of Professor Mahendra Bhandari and completed the McH and DNB program in 1991.

Training

Tewari has trained in the U.S. at UCSF, University of Florida and at HFHS under Dr. Mani Menon, where was part of the surgical team that performed the first robotic procedure at VUI. Tewari completed his urology residency at the Vattikuti Urology Institute of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, in 2004. He received his urologic oncology research training at the University of California, San Francisco in 1994, the University of Florida in 1998, and VUI in 2004.

Research

Tewari's research interests revolve around the diagnosis and treatment of patients with urological cancers, with a focus on prostate cancer. His research ranges from the study of patient outcomes, robotic techniques, molecular markers for cancer aggressiveness, racial disparity in cancer biology, quality of life studies, strategies to improve nerve sparing and sexual function recovery, and anatomic studies to facilitate continence preservation to the development of next generation robotic techniques. He has received several federal and non-federal research funding grants for his research on prostate cancer, totaling several million dollars in grant capital. He is one of the few urologists in the world to receive an NIH R01 Grant. Additionally, he is among the first surgeons to use real time tissue imaging during surgery to minimize nerve damage in the patient and was the first surgeon in the world to use the catheter-less Prostate Surgery. The catheter-less surgery minimizes postoperative pain after prostatectomy.

Honors, awards, and prizes

A few of the medical conference and achievement awards earned by Tewari and his research team are:
Tewari serves as a reviewer for a number of prestigious professional journals including the Journal of Urology, British Journal of Urology, Contemporary Urology, Medscape, Post Graduate Medicine, and Oncology Operational. He is the associate editor for BJU International. Tewari has served as a visiting professor and lecturer at dozens of venues both in the United States and abroad. Recently, Tewari spoke at the Annual International Prostate & Robotics Symposium in the United Arab Emirates and the Ohio State World Symposium of Robotic Surgery. He is also previously been on faculty of the International Robotic Urology Symposium.

Society memberships

In addition to directing serving as Chairman of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tewari is a member of several professional societies including: American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, American Urological Association, NYS Medical Advisory Board, International Society of Quality of Life Research, Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, Society of Minimally Invasive Therapy, Society of Urologic Oncology, Indian Association of Urological Surgeons and Michigan Prostate Cancer Consortium.

Publications

Books

In collaboration with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine urologist, Joseph A. Smith, Jr., Tewari co-authored Robotics in Urologic Surgery. Smith, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology at Vanderbilt, worked with Tewari to publish a textbook that explains the foundation of robotic surgery and its role in urological operations. In 2013, Dr. Tewari published a comprehensive textbook on prostate cancer, published by Springer Publishing.

Research papers

Tewari has published articles, book chapters and invited articles on various aspects of urologic cancer, urology and robotics. He has authored and co-authored over 250 published manuscripts, research abstracts, and book chapters. A selection of Tewari's publications includes:
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