Sam Atallah, MD (2019)
Dr. Atallah is among the most well known colorectal surgeons in the world, and a Professor of Surgery at The University of Central Florida — College of Medicine. He is the current Director of Research and Clinical Trials at The Digestive And Liver Center of Florida, Division of Colorectal Surgery (OrlandoColon.com); Director of The Division of Colorectal Surgery at The Endo-Surgical Center of Florida; Director of Colorectal Surgery at Oviedo Medical Center. Dr. Atallah is the current (2021-2022) Chair of the departement of Colon and Rectal Surgery at AdventHealth Orlando and is also a two-term (2015-2018) former chairman of Florida Hospital (AdventHealth). Active in the Americal Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, he is the current (2022-2023) New Technologies Committee Chairman. In 2021, he completed the Surgical Leadership Program at Harvard Medical School. He has been practicing surgery in Orlando, FL since 2007.
Dr. Atallah graduated from UT-Southwestern Medical School (Dallas, TX) in 2000. He then completed training at Houston’s Texas Medical Center with Surgical Oncology training at MD Anderson Cancer Center where his training had earned him double-board certification in General Surgery and Colorectal Surgery.
Two years to the day after completing fellowship training in colon & rectal surgery, Dr. Atallah performed the world’s first TAMIS operation in Winter Park, FL on June 30, 2009. This created a new approach to treating rectal cancers and polyps, that is now being practiced in more than 50 countries world-wide. Dr. Atallah is also a pioneer of robotic transanal surgery, and was the first in the world to perform this technique. He is one of the leaders in advanced technology for rectal cancer surgery and has developed the technique of stereotactic navigation for transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) — an important step forward in the evolution of computer-assisted surgery. Complex treatment of rectal cancer and surgical management of this disease through the new techniques of TAMIS and taTME represent Dr. Atallah’s principle interests in colorctal surgery; and in 2019 he published the first (and only) textbook on these topics with the publisher, Springer Nature. He is also actively involved in the development of digital surgery, navigation in cancer surgery, and the design and assessment of feasibility of next generation robotic sytems that will be smaller, sleaker, and able to work in places and spaces never before imagined. In 2021, he published his textbook Digital Surgery.
Other areas of Dr. Atallah’s research interest include understanding the tumor biology of colon cancer at the molecular level. He is the principle investigator of a major study looking at biologic tumor markers that can lead to a better understanding of cancer tumors. This study is in collaboration with Sanford & Burnham Labs in La Jolla, CA. Other than cancer surgery, and operative management of inflammatory bowel disease, his other areas of specialty include minimally invasive treatments for hemorrhoids, especially with the ‘no-cutting’ operation called Transanal Hemorrhoidal Dearterialization (THD), and treatment of dysplasia; Dr. Atallah is one of the few experts in the Orlando area to perform High Resolution Anoscopy (HRA) for detection and treatment of AIN (Anal Intra-epithial Neoplasia).
Dr. Atallah has become internationally recognized for his pioneering work in rectal cancer surgery and has given several invited lectureships worldwide, and has been selected as part of an elite faculty team for the Inaugural United States TAMIS-taTME Course in 2014 held at The Center For The Future of Surgery — at the University of California, San Diego. Since this time, he has trained hundreds of surgeons nationally and internationally. He has also perform live surgery and lectured globally — traveling to six continents in 2017 alone. He has given lectures at the European Association of Endoscopic Surgeons’ 14th World Congress in Paris, France; The Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research in Chicago; The Society of Robotic Surgeons held in both Orlando and Miami; The American College of Surgeons in Washington, DC. The Peking University Conference on Advanced Rectal Cancer Surgery, Beijing, China, and several other international society meetings in worldwide destinations — including the 30th annual Japanese Society of Endoscopic Surgeons in Kyoto (2017); The Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand in Sydney and a taTME Workshop held in Brisbane, Australia; The 90th Annual Surgical Congress held in Pucon, Chile; The Rectal Cancer Summit held in Mexico City, Mexico; IRCAD Colorectal Masters Course held in Strausburg, France. Dr. Atallah has also taught surgeons via invited professorships at multiple other destinations including Santander, Spain; Hong Kong; Taiwan; Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chongping, China; Tokyo, Japan. Furthermore, Dr. Atallah has served as a panelist for the National Advisory Board for Colon Cancer Screening on the implementation of sDNA as a screening modality. He has authored more than 85 peer-reviewed publications since 2010, most of which focus on innovations in surgery and cutting edge surgical techniques. Here’s a link to Dr. Atallah’s Doximity Profile and LinkedIn as well as his profile at U.S.News & World Report
Dr. Atallah’s 2019 Textbook on TAMIS and taTME
Dr. Atallah’s 2021 Textbook on Digital Surgery
Download Dr. Atallah’s Resume (2022)