
Francesca M. Dimou, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Surgery
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
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
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
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
To request an appointment with Dr. Dimou, please call (314) 454-8877.