BiliaryTractCancer near Jersey City, NJ

Biography: Pieter Jan Sebastian Smit, MD, is a surgeon, specializing in general surgery, trauma surgery, and surgical critical care at NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group Brooklyn, affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. He is an assistant professor of clinical surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Smit performs both elective and emergency surgeries and cares for patients in the surgical intensive care unit. His clinical interests include abdominal wall reconstruction, minimally invasive emergency surgery, and damage control surgery and resuscitation. Dr. Smit is also involved in resident education through Weill Cornell Medical College. After graduating from Albany Medical College, Dr. Smit completed his general surgery residency and surgical critical care fellowship training at Orlando Regional Medical Center and Boston Medical Center, respectively. Before coming to NewYork-Presbyterian, Dr. Smit was a surgeon at NYU Langone Health in Brooklyn, where he served in several leadership committees. Dr. Smit has presented his research at annual medical meetings of the American College of Surgeons is a member of multiple national surgical and trauma organizations.

Biography: Jason Hawksworth, MD is a noted pioneer in minimally invasive robotic hepatobiliary and transplant surgery. Dr. Hawksworth is the Surgical Director of Adult Liver Transplantation, Chief of Hepatobiliary Surgery, and the Director of Robotic Liver Surgery Program in the Division of Abdominal Organ Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is an Associate Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Hawksworth is known for unique and innovative minimally invasive robotic surgeries to remove tumors of the liver, bile duct and pancreas, including robotic major hepatectomy, robotic pancreatectomy, and robotic Whipple. He also specializes in robotic transplantation including robotic kidney transplantation, robotic living donor nephrectomy and robotic living donor hepatectomy. Dr. Hawksworth received his undergraduate degree from The United States Military Academy at West point and his medical degree from Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Hawksworth completed general surgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center followed by an abdominal transplant and hepatobiliary surgery fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital. Previously the Chief of Robotic Surgery at Georgetown University Hospital, Dr. Hawksworth established one of the nation's premier robotic hepatobiliary and transplant programs in 2018 at Georgetown. He was recruited to Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2023 to lead the liver transplant and hepatobiliary programs and continue to develop innovative techniques in robotic surgery. Dr. Hawksworth is a member of several key organizations including a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, International Laparoscopic Liver Society, and Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association. His research interests include clinical transplant and hepatobiliary trials, and he has published over 60 scientific manuscripts and book chapters in leading journals such as Annals of Surgery, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, American Journal of Transplantation and Transplantation. Dr. Hawksworth is a Colonel in the Army reserves and has deployed four times to support combat operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Visit The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at columbiasurgery.org/liver.