BROOKLYN, NY – Prashant Sinha, MD, an expert in minimally invasive surgery, has been named the new chief of surgery at NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn. He takes the reins of a department that has already achieved notable success in rapidly expanding the complexity of surgical procedures it performs since becoming the Brooklyn hub of NYU Langone Health.
In addition to continuing to strengthen NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn’s surgical staff, developing new programs, and increasing ambulatory services, Sinha also will manage the hospital’s surgical residency training.
Sinha is an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at NYU School of Medicine and has been on staff since 2009. His personal expertise is in minimally invasive surgery and advanced laparoscopy to treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, including colon cancer, severe pancreatitis, perforations, and complications of bariatric surgery.
He also comes to his new position with extensive administrative experience. As head of quality improvement in the Department of Surgery, he built a comprehensive database that captures quality trends and adverse events. “Safety is our No. 1 priority,” said Sinha. “The database that we created is an important teaching tool from which we gain valuable insight into best practices for managing complications to achieve better outcomes for our patients.”
“We had to look no further than our own faculty to find the right person to lead our surgical team in Brooklyn,” says H. Leon Pachter, MD, FACS, The George David Stewart Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery for NYU Langone Health. “Under Dr. Sinha’s stewardship, we will continually upgrade, expand, and integrate surgical services at NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn to achieve the same level of excellence throughout our healthcare network.”
The continual improvement of surgical services also allows NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn to care for sicker patients in Brooklyn rather than transferring them to NYU Langone Health’s main hospital in Manhattan—an important benefit to those living in the borough.
“Brooklyn residents deserve the highest quality of care that they can receive in their own neighborhood,” says Bret J. Rudy, MD, executive hospital director and senior vice president of NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn. “We accept only one high standard of care across NYU Langone Health. Nobody understands this more than Dr. Sinha.”
Prior to his position as chief of surgery at NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn, Sinha worked for NYC Health + Hospitals under its clinical agreement with NYU Langone Health, first at Bellevue Hospital Center and then as chief of surgery at Woodhull Hospital. Before receiving a medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2002, Sinha had already earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT, and worked as chief operating officer of Cogniant, a company involved in medical, financial, and mobile web development, and as business development manager for Boston Scientific. He also served as a consultant and chief medical officer for Corventis, a developer of a heart monitoring technology that has since been acquired by Medtronics. Later, as chief medical officer of Docwise, he developed an app to help healthcare professionals keep up with articles in medical journals.
“I know firsthand how important it is to work together with other medical disciplines,” Sinha says. “For a patient to have a successful surgical outcome, their other health issues need to be addressed. We will reach out to practitioners in the hospital and in the community to help build trust, improve safety standards, and advance patient satisfaction. The patient remains our top priority.”
