FOCAL+ FACULTY
Louis Kavoussi, MD, MBA
System Chief, Robotic Teleintervention
Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell University Medical School
Dr. Kavoussi is currently the System Chief of Robotic Teleintervention for Northwell Health (Formerly North Shore-LIJ Health System) and Professor of Urology and Surgery at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Kavoussi served as the SVP & Chairman of Urology at Northwell Health for 20 years. He is a world-renowned surgeon recognized for his expertise in minimally invasive approaches to urological disease. He has helped pioneer several new operative techniques which have become standard of care. He has been a driver in telehealth. He has also helped train many academic urologists around the world.
Dr. Kavoussi completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and medical degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He obtained his urologic training at Washington University of St. Louis and directly following residency was named Chief of Urology at the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis. In 1991 he was appointed Assistant Professor at Harvard school of Medicine and Director of Endourology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In 1993 he joined the faculty of John Hopkins University School of Medicine where he became Vice Chairman of Urology and Patrick C. Walsh Distinguished Professor.
Dr. Kavoussi has made many important contributions to urology. He was part of several first teams that developed many of the minimally invasive approaches used today including the minimally invasive nephrectomy, donor nephrectomy and prostatectomy. His contributions have been documented in over 400 peer reviewed publications. He has edited multiple texts including his role as a co-editor of Campbell-Walsh Urology, the bible of urology for 25 years, Smith’s Endourology, Atlas of Retroperitoneal Surgery and Handbook of Surgical Techniques.
He founded the first robotics laboratory dedicated to urological applications, The Urobotics Lab at John Hopkins and he developed telerounding and teleinteraction with patients for which he was a Smithsonian Computerworld Medalist. His contributions to the field of urology earned him the Golden Cystoscope Award of the American Urological Association, The Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Kidney Foundation, Valentine Medal from the New York Academy of Medicine and the Icon Award from the Society of Robotic Surgeons, a multidisciplinary surgical organization. He served as President of the Society of Academic Urologist as well as the New York Section AUA.
Dr. Kavoussi has mentored over 35 fellows in minimally invasive surgery who are academic leaders around the world. This achievement was recognized through him being awarded the Clayman Endourology Society Mentoring Award in 2014. As the Chief of Teleintervention at Northwell Health, he is investigating this technology as a mechanism to provide equity in urological care.