Michael M. Awad, MD, PhD, MHPE, FACS

Michael M. Awad, MD, PhD, MHPE, FACS

Expertise


Specialty Areas

  • Foregut Surgery
  • Surgery for the Esophagus and Stomach
  • Laparoscopic Surgery
  • Robotic Surgery
  • Endoscopic Surgery
  • Natural Orifice Surgery
  • Incision-less Surgery

Common Procedures

  • Robotic surgery
  • Laparoscopic surgery
  • Endoscopic surgery
  • Revisional foregut surgery
  • Paraesophageal hernia repairs
  • Hiatal hernia repairs
  • Heller myotomy
  • Fundoplications
  • LINX device/magnetic augmentation
  • POEM procedure
  • Enterra gastric stimulator/pacemaker
  • G-POEM or POP procedure
  • Pyloroplasty
  • Celiac artery stenosis / median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS) release
  • Duodenojejunostomy (for SMA syndrome)
  • GIST excision
  • Zenker’s diverticulotomy, endoscopic
  • Epiphrenic diverticulectomy

Common Diagnoses Treated

  • Paraesophageal hernias
  • Hiatal hernias
  • Reflux/GERD
  • Achalasia
  • Esophageal diverticula (e.g., Zenker’s diverticula, epiphrenic diverticula)
  • Gastroparesis
  • Gastric GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumor)
  • Diaphragmatic hernias (Morgagni, Bochdalek, traumatic)
  • Celiac artery stenosis / median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS)
  • SMA syndrome
  • Peptic ulcer (gastric/duodenal)
  • Gall bladders (acute/chronic cholecystitis, biliary colic, choledocholithiasis, biliary dyskinesia)
  • Spleen/splenectomy
  • Inguinal hernia
  • Umbilical/epigastric hernia
  • Ventral/incisional hernias that can be approached laparoscopically (generally 10cm or less, or size of one’s fist)
  • Lipoma excision

Education


Board Certifications

General Surgery

Degrees

Medical School: Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI, 2001

Graduate School: Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI, 2001


Residency

2001-2008 General Surgery Residency, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

2006 Visiting Registrar, The John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University, Oxford, England

Fellowship

2008-2009 Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Surgery Fellowship, Legacy Health Systems/Oregon Health Sciences, Portland, OR


Professional Memberships

American College of Surgeons

Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons

Association for Surgical Education

American Foregut Society

Association for Program Directors in Surgery

Awards and Honors

2020 American College of Surgeons Associate Member Inductee

2020 ABIM Foundation

2016, 2018, 2019 Washington University School of Medicine Clinical Teacher of the Year Award

2016 Phillip J. Wolfson Outstanding Teaching Award

Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)

SAGES Board of Governors

Chair of Resident and Fellow Training Committee AFS

Chair of Education and Training Committee Association for Surgical Education

John Benson Professionalism Article Prize

Academy of Master Surgeon Educators

Research


Areas of Research Interest

Surgical Simulation, Curriculum Design, Robotic surgery clinical outcomes, Foregut surgery databases

Financial Disclosures

Educational grants from a variety of industry partners for resident/fellow training: Applied Medical, Baxter, Bard/BD, Ethicon, Intuitive, Medtronic, Storz, Stryker

Publications

Zihni A, Gerull WD, Cavallo JA, Ge T, Ray S, Chiu J, Brunt LM, Awad MM. Comparison of precision and speed in laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgical task performance. Journal of Surgical Research. Mar 2018; 223:29. PMID: 29433882.

Liang Z, Gerull WD, Wang R, Zhini AM, Ray S, Awad MM. Effect of patient body mass index on laparoscopic surgical ergonomics. Obesity Surgery. 2019 Jun;29(6): 1709-1713. PMID: 30712169.

Zarate Rodriguez J, Zihni AM, Cavallo J, Ray S, Cho S, Awad MM. Ergonomic analysis of laparoscopic and robotic surgical task performance at various experience levels. Surgical Endoscopy. 2019 Jun; 33(6):1938-1943. PMID: 30350099.

Gerull WD, Zihni A, Awad MM. Operative performance outcomes of a simulator-based robotic surgical skills curriculum. Surgical Endoscopy. 2019 Nov 15. PMID: 31732857.

Gerull WD, Cho D, Arefanian S, Kushner BS, Awad MM. Favorable peri-operative outcomes observed in paraesophageal hernia repair with robotic approach. Surgical Endoscopy. 2020 Jun 15. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32556775.

Gerull WD, Cho D, Kuo I, Arefanian S, Kushner BS, Awad MM. Robotic Approach to Paraesophageal Hernia Repair Results in Low Long-Term Recurrence Rate and Beneficial Patient-Centered Outcomes. J Am Coll Surg. 2020 Aug 3: S1072-7515(20)31329-6. Online ahead of print. PMID: 32758533.

Locations


Hospital Affiliations

Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital

St. Louis Children’s Hospital

Patients Seen At

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

News and Stories
Contact


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