Juan M. Sarmiento
MD, FACS
Dr. Sarmiento, an expert in liver, biliary tract and pancreas surgery, is one of only a handful of surgeons with a commitment to hepatopancreatic biliary surgery.
Specialty
Dr. Sarmiento's innovative treatments include a minimally-invasive approach to liver surgery (the only one in the state and one of very few in the country) and laparoscopic surgery of the pancreas.
Titles and Roles
- Professor, Division of General and GI Surgery, Department of Surgery
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Director of Hepatopancreatic Biliary Surgery
- Emory University Hospital
- Research Program
- Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics
Biography
Juan M. Sarmiento, MD, FACS, who started practicing at Emory in 2003, is Professor of Surgery in the Division of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, the Department of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine, and Director of Hepatopancreatic Biliary Surgery (HPB) at Emory University Hospital.
Dr. Sarmiento, an expert in liver, biliary tract and pancreas surgery, is one of a very few surgeons with such a commitment to HPB surgery. He has exclusive dedication to the field for the past twelve years. He received intensive training in HPB surgery for two years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The operations performed on these organs are technically demanding and the process to evaluate a patient has been streamlined as a product of a tight interaction with radiology and pathology.
Dr. Sarmiento is originally from Colombia. He came to the U.S. in 1995 for further surgical training in Rochester, MN, at the Mayo Clinic. He was on the faculty of the Department of Surgery at Mayo after finishing his training until his move to Emory in Atlanta. Dr. Sarmiento is President of the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association.
Education
Dr. Sarmiento received his medical degree from the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia. He completed his residency and fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
Research
Dr. Sarmiento is conducting clinical research related to several aspects of the HPB field. His team studies the coagulation consequences of major liver resection using innovative studies, both clinical and bench tests, with the support from the Anesthesia Department. He is currently studying the endocrine implications of partial pancreatic resection in nondiabetic patients and he evaluates and tests extremely simplified clinical pathways for complex pancreatic resections (the Whipple procedure) with very good results.
With Dr. Edward Lin, Dr. Sarmiento has developed unique techniques for laparoscopic-assisted formal liver resections, such as the performance of laparoscopic hepatectomy through incisions that are much smaller than those of a standard open procedure. He has also developed innovative methods of doing laparoscopic surgery of the pancreas.
Publications
Publications Publication Date
Awards
Dr. Sarmiento has received distinguished awards for his work in laparoscopic surgery from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association and the Joint American and International Congress on HPB Surgery. He has been recognized with a History of Medicine Fellowship from Southern Surgical Association and was named Surgical Fellow Teacher of the Year (2001) while at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. He received the Karee D. Nygaard Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Sciences Research from the Department of Surgery, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine.