Faculty

Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, FACS MAMSE is Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery and Bioinformatics.  Dr Schwaitzberg also serves as the Medical Director, Surgical Program Development, at Great Lakes Health..

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Schwaitzberg received his MD from Baylor College of Medicine and a MA  from Harvard in 2014.  He completed his surgical residency in 1986 at the Baylor Affiliated Hospitals, a fellowships in infectious disease at the Methodist Hospital  in Houston and in pediatric trauma  at the Pediatric Trauma Institute in Boston.

Steve  previously served 10 years as the Chief of Surgery at the Cambridge Health Alliance where he was Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.  He served in Operation Desert Storm as Chief of Surgery with the 365th Evacuation Hospital from Niagara Falls , NY. He had held numerous leadership roles at the New England Medical Center including Chairman of the Institutional Review Board, Medical Director of the Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, and Director of Surgical Research.

Dr. Schwaitzberg is an internationally recognized academic surgeon and has focused his research in five areas: (1) device development; (2) prevention of intra-abdominal adhesions; (3) skill acquisition in minimally invasive surgery including AI and robotics  (4) clinical evaluation of antibiotics; and (5) clinical outcomes.  His seminal research on the effects of microwaves in blood warming led to practical device application and federal approval. His translated his basic laboratory work with an anti-adhesion device led to the pivotal clinical trial supporting its use in patients. He has made important contributions in both the preclinical and clinical areas in the development of surgical robots. His numerous research projects have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, DoD, the National Science Foundation, and industry. Dr Schwaitzberg has authored/co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, review articles, book chapters, editorials, videos and clinical reviews. He holds three US patents.

Dr Schwaitzberg has won numerous awards including  SUNY Distinguished Service Award, SUNY Chancellor’s Award and Buffalo Business First – Excellence in Health Care  award.   He was awarded the American College of Surgeons 2010 Health Policy Scholar award, Computerworld/National Smithsonian Honors 21st Century Laureate Achievement award (2003), and many awards for teaching excellence. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has served on the Board of Governors. He was inducted in the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Educators in 2021. He is Past President of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons and a past Chairman of the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery Committee.