Mount Sinai Welcomes Robotic Prostate Surgery Pioneer Mani Menon, MD

Robotic prostate surgery pioneer Mani Menon, MD, is joining Mount Sinai and will serve as Chief of Strategy and Innovation in the Department of Urology for the Mount Sinai Health System. He will also serve as a Professor of Urology, Director of Education and Director of the Precision Prostatectomy Program in the Department of Urology at Icahn Mount Sinai and Center of Excellence for Prostate Cancer at The Tisch Cancer Institute.

Dr. Menon, Emeritus Director for the Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Health System, has personally performed more than 6,000 robotic prostatectomy surgeries and is considered to be one of the foremost surgical innovators in the world. He will begin his new role at Mount Sinai on Thursday, July 1.

“Dr. Menon is an outstanding leader whose pioneering work in robotic surgery has dramatically transformed the world of surgery,” said Ashutosh (Ash) K. Tewari, MD, Chair, Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology at Icahn Mount Sinai. “Having been his resident and fellow during the early days of robotics, it is now with renewed energy and honor that I look forward to working with Dr. Menon on expanding our programs in urologic innovation and education.”

At Henry Ford Hospital, Dr. Menon started incorporating computer-integrated surgical systems into clinical practice and established the first cancer-oriented robotics program in the world. Techniques developed by Dr. Menon have revolutionized the field of urological oncology and laid the framework for the extension of robotics to other surgical disciplines. In 2013, he extended the uses of computer-integrated systems to the field of kidney transplantation. He worked with Rajesh Ahlawat, MD, to develop the Vattikuti Urology Institute technique of robotic kidney transplant, which has been adopted at multiple institutions across the world.

“I am thrilled to join the committed and highly respected team of physicians at Mount Sinai who share my dedication to providing compassionate care to patients,” said Dr. Menon. “I look forward to working together to mentor future generations of urologists, to move the needle on urological research, and most importantly, to provide safe and exceptional care to the patients we serve.”

Dr. Menon is a recipient of several awards such as the Gold Cystoscope award of the American Urological Association; the Dr. B.C. Roy Award from the President of India, which is the highest award given by the Government of India for achievements in medical science; the Hugh Hampton Young Award; the Keyes Medal, recognized as the greatest individual citation awarded by the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons; and the St. Paul’s Medal from the British Association of Urological Surgeons. He has been a visiting professor at more than 50 institutions across the globe, where he has lectured, performed robotic surgery, and trained hundreds of surgeons. Dr. Menon’s team has been involved in the establishment of more than 35 robotic surgery programs in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Dr. Menon has published more than 1,000 manuscripts, book chapters, and abstracts, primarily in the field of robotic surgery, kidney transplantation, and urolithiasis. His work has appeared in the major urological journals as well as in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the American Journal of Physiology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The New England Journal of Medicine. He is a member of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, and the Society of Scholars at Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater. He is an honorary member of both the American Urological Association and the European Association of Urology, a recognition reserved for their most distinguished members.

Dr. Menon graduated from JIPMER in Pondicherry, India, and completed his residency at the Brady Urological Institute at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He served on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis from 1980 to 1983, when was appointed Founding Chair and Professor of the Division of Urological and Transplantation Surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 1997, Dr. Menon became Chair of the Department of Urology at Henry Ford Hospital and in 2000, was appointed the first Director of the Vattikuti Urology Institute, of which he is now Director Emeritus.

The Department of Urology at the Mount Sinai Health System has one of the most robust robotic surgery programs in the country, with Dr. Tewari having performed more than 7,000 surgeries. Genomic testing and advanced imaging are routine for patients with prostate cancer, providing personalized and precise treatment protocols.