Francesca M. Dimou, MD, MS

Assistant Professor of Surgery

Expertise


Specialty Areas


  • Bariatric surgery
  • Robotic surgery
  • General surgery, including gallbladder disease, hernias, and foregut pathology

Common Procedures


  • Robotic gastric bypass
  • Robotic gastric sleeve
  • Bariatric revision procedures
  • Cholecystectomy
  • Hernia repair
  • Foregut surgery

Common Diagnoses Treated


  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease
  • Inguinal hernia
  • Umbilical hernia
  • Incisional hernia
  • Hiatal hernia
  • Biliary tract disease
  • Peptic ulcer disease
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Foregut disorders
  • Complex gallbladder
  • Gastric resections
  • Morbid obesity
Education


Board Certifications


American Board of Surgery

Degrees


Medical School: University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 2011

Graduate School: University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 2015

Residency


General Surgery Internship, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 2013-2014

General Surgery Residency, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 2014-2018

Fellowship


Advanced Gastrointestinal and Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellow, New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 2019

Professional Memberships


American College of Surgeons

American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

Missouri State Medical Association

Central Surgical Association

Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract

Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons

Awards and Honors


Edward Copeland Research Award

SSAT Resident Research Forum Presentation Award of Excellence in Clinical & Translational Research

American College of Surgeons Leadership & Advocacy Summit Travel Scholarship

University of South Florida Department of Surgery Research Day Award 

Alpha Omega Alpha

Research


Areas of Research Interest


Outcomes research in patients with morbid obesity

Disparities in treatment of patients with morbid obesity

Gallstone disease

Improving patient outcomes following bariatric surgery

Innovations


Robotic bariatric surgery at Washington University. Performed the first totally robotic gastric bypass in November 2019 and have completed almost 100 robotic bariatrics procedures since coming to Washington University in 2019.

Publications


Dimou F, Huynh S, Dakin G, Pomp A, Turnbull Z, Samuels JD, Afaneh C. Nasal positive pressure with the SuperNO2VA™ device decreases sedation-related hypoxemia during pre-bariatric surgery EGD. Surg Endosc. 2019;33(11):3828-3832. PMID:30805788

Majumder A, Eckhouse SR, Brunt LM, Awad MM, Dimou FM, Eagon JC, Holden S, Fone H, Blatnik JA. Initial Experience with a Virtual Platform for Advanced Gastrointestinal Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship Interviews. J Am Coll Surg. 2020;231(6):670-678. PMCID:PMC7497742 PMID:32950602

Bellorin O, Vigiola-Cruz M, Dimou F, At R, Al Hussein Alawamlh O, Pomp A, Dakin G, Afaneh C. Robotic-assisted surgery enhances the learning curve while maintaining quality outcomes in sleeve gastrectomy: a preliminary, multicenter study. Surg Endosc. 2021. PMID:33398577

Dimou FM, Ackermann N, Chang S, Freeman D, Eagon JC, Eckhouse SR. Understanding the Current Role of Robotic-assisted Bariatric Surgery Obesity Surgery. 2021.
Kushner BS, Freeman D, Waldrop A, Sparkman J, Dimou F, Eagon JC, Eckhouse SR. Infection prevention plan to decrease surgical site infections in bariatric surgery patients. Surg Endosc. 2021. PMID:33978849

Locations


Hospital Affiliations


Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital

Patients Seen At


Center for Advanced Medicine
4921 Parkview Place
Floor 8, Suite C
St. Louis, MO 63110

Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital
Medical Building 4
1044 North Mason Road
Suite 310
St. Louis, MO  63141

News and Stories
Contact


To request an appointment with Dr. Dimou, please call (314) 454-8877.