Biography

Michel Kahaleh, MD, AGAF, FACG, FASGE is the Clinical Director of Gastroenterology and Chief of Endoscopy at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson University. Trained in Erasme Hospital, University of Brussels, he led the Pancreatico-Biliary team of endoscopists at the University of Virginia before joining Well Cornell Medical College in July 2011 as Chief of Endoscopy. He is a world renowned endoscopist boarded in both Europe and the United States. He is fluent is French, Spanish and Arabic.

The adjunct use of both Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and Endoscopic Ultrasonography (EUS) has permitted him and his team to successfully treat pancreatic collections and perform newly described procedures that have had a major impact on patient management.

With over 200 publications, Dr. Kahaleh's research has primarily focused on interventional endoscopy. He continually serves as a primary investigator on many clinical trials; including those that involve the use of new devices to diagnose and treat biliary and pancreatic diseases. A major focus of his research is on preventing and treating complications of advanced endoscopic procedures. He is actively analyzing the efficacy of metallic stents in both benign and malignant diseases. Another area of investigation for Dr. Kahaleh is understanding and preventing biliary and pancreatic cancer. The objective is to develop new diagnostic techniques for reducing the mortality associated with those cancers, by detecting them earlier and treating them using novel therapies such as laser therapy, photodynamic therapy and radiofrequency ablation. He is actively involved in minimally invasive techniques and endoscopic surgery, teach Per Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) in latin america and run the therapeutic EUS foundation. He created "EDGE" (EUS directed transgastric ERCP) for patient with roux en Y gastric bypass needing ERCP and offer STER (Submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection) as an alternative to complex surgeries.