Message from the Department Chair

The Department of Surgery is a collegial and cohesive multi-specialty group of highly skilled and trained surgeons that provides a team approach for the evaluation and management of surgical conditions.

Our surgeons practice at UC Irvine Medical Center, which is Orange County's only academic medical center and one of California's largest teaching hospitals. Our surgical team consists of surgeons who are repeatedly listed in "Best Doctors in America," "Guide to America's Top Surgeons" and "Consumer's Guide to Top Doctors." As a result, UC Irvine Medical Center serves as a referral center for community physicians who have patients with complex conditions.

The department, together with the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the H.H. Chao Digestive Disease Center (CDDC) and the Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, seamlessly integrates and coordinates clinical care, education and research. The advanced imaging and surgical systems in UC Irvine Douglas Hospital allow our patients to undergo procedures that are not only more efficient, but also less traumatic to their organs and tissues. The expertise of our surgeons, combined with leading-edge technologies, translates into shorter hospital stays and better outcomes for our patients.

Today, we offer most procedures using minimally invasive techniques, including single incision approaches and the use of robotic technology.  We work hand in hand with the cancer center, the CDDC, the Cardiovascular Center and every other practice at the medical center. Our focus is the individual patient, and we provide the safest and most comprehensive treatment to each of our patients. 

In addition to our clinical programs, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality surgical education to our medical students, our surgical residents and community surgeons. We are also a national leader in basic and applied research. Our university faculty members include Nobel laureates and members of the National Academies of Sciences. Their scientific research and discoveries have been responsible for many new technologies and therapies to improve healthcare. In fact, UC Irvine is ranked among the top 50 U.S. medical schools for research and primary care, according to U.S. News & World Report.

We are integrated into many other subspecialties in medicine such as cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, vascular diseases, cardiovascular diseases, hepatobiliary diseases, trauma, burns and surgical critical care.  The department is organized into several divisions that include Cardiothoracic Surgery, Colon and Rectal Surgery, Gastrointestinal Surgery (including foregut and bariatric surgery), Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Surgical Oncology including the Breast Health Center, Pediatric Surgery, Kidney/Pancreas Transplant Surgery, Trauma, Critical Care/Burns and Acute Care Surgery, and Vascular Surgery. Finally, the Aesthetic & Plastic Surgery Institute and the Beckman Laser Institute reside in the Department of Surgery.

At UC Irvine, we work as a team to ensure the broadest expertise and most comprehensive care possible. It's why we in the Department of Surgery say, "When you see one of you see all of us."