Dr. Yuri Novitsky
“My number one goal is to restore the abdomen to how it was before the hernia happened, getting patients back to a normal life”
Yuri Novitsky, MD, FACS
World-Renowned Pioneer in Hernia Surgery
International Lecturer
Surgical Innovator
Medical School: Albany Medical College
Residency: Mount Sinai Medical Center; University of Massachusetts, Worcester
Fellowship: University of Massachusetts; Carolinas Medical Center
Yuri Novitsky, MD, FACS, is Director of the Columbia Hernia Center and Chief of the Division of Abdominal Wall Surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He is internationally known for advanced laparoscopic and robotic surgery and the repair of complex inguinal and ventral hernias.
His national leadership has included service as president of the American Hernia Society (2022–2023) and work with its Board of Governors, the SAGES Guidelines Committee, and the Value Analysis Initiative of the SAGES Hernia Task Force.
His research focuses on improving surgical techniques and tissue responses to mesh. He has received more than $2 million in grants from SAGES, the National Institutes of Health, and other funders for research on hernia repair and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Dr. Novitsky has published more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous book chapters. He also mentors postdoctoral students and remains actively involved in medical education.
Hernia care with Dr. Novitsky
Conditions and treatment options
Dr. Novitsky treats complex and recurrent ventral and incisional hernias, large abdominal wall defects requiring reconstruction, and inguinal hernias.
His techniques include minimally invasive hernia repair, open and robotic transversus abdominis release (TAR), and robotic abdominal wall reconstruction. He is known for pioneering minimally invasive ventral hernia repair and open abdominal wall reconstruction, including TAR and its robotic extension.
He first described TAR in 2006 and published three-year results in 2009. The technique has since been widely adopted. Read his Columbia profile.
Clinic visits and appointments
Manhattan: Columbia Hernia Center.
Westchester: NewYork-Presbyterian The One, 1111 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604, for clinic visits.
Call (212) 305-5947 to schedule an appointment, or contact our team.
Selected publications
Nwigwe V, Reeves G, McGoldrick M, Muller M, Dimagli A, Ekanayake C, Stowman A, Muthumani A, Addo A, Podolsky D, George P, Novitsky Y. How frail is too frail? Impact of frailty on complex abdominal wall reconstruction. Surg Endosc. 2026.
Grover K, Korenblit N, Babu A, Podolsky D, Carbonell A, Orenstein S, Pauli EM, Novitsky Y, Madani A, Sullivan M, Nieman D. Understanding how experts do it: a conceptual framework for the open transversus abdominis release procedure. Ann Surg. 2023.
Podolsky D, Ghanem OM, Tunder K, Iqbal E, Novitsky YW. Current practices in complex abdominal wall reconstruction in the Americas: need for national guidelines? Surg Endosc. 2022.
Grossi JVM, Lee B, Belyansky I, Carbonell AM, Cavazzola LT, Novitsky YW, Ballecer CD. Critical view of robotic-assisted transverse abdominal release (r-TAR). Hernia. 2021.
Nikolian VC, Coleman NL, Podolsky D, Novitsky YW. Robotic-assisted transabdominal preperitoneal ventral hernia repair. Surg Technol Int. 2020.
Questions about your hernia? Consult with one of our Hernia Experts. NYC: (212) 305-5947. NJ: (212) 305-2038.