General Surgery

Welcome to the Division of General Surgery at UCLA

The Division of General Surgery provides comprehensive surgical consultation and care in many subspecialties including colon and rectal surgery, trauma, pediatric surgery, endocrine surgery, bariatric surgery and multidisciplinary pancreas surgery.

Our skilled surgeons are fellowship trained in various specialties and many are renowned across the country and around the world, as leaders in their respective disciplines. The Division of General Surgery seeks to create world leaders in health and science by providing the highest quality education for our trainees through our renowned residency and fellowship programs. Learn more >(Link opens in new window)

The Division of General Surgery, with its large and diverse research programs, is committed to developing and promoting cutting-edge discoveries in general surgery. Our faculty and research teams constantly strive to optimize the technologies we have and invent the technologies we need in order to bring to our patients the latest developments. The collaborative efforts of our clinical and research teams result in the offering of the best treatment options to help improve the quality of care and life for all of our patients.

Simply, we aim to promote outstanding patient care and support the educational and scientific programs of our enterprise. We continually aspire to seek and apply groundbreaking medical and surgical technology for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with diseases. This is our mission.

We welcome you to the Division of General Surgery!

Sincerely,

O. Joe Hines, MD,
Chair, Department of Surgery
Chief, General Surgery

The Division of General Surgery has become one of the largest and most renowned surgical units in the world. Serving as the major academic referral center for Southern California, UCLA Health is a destination for patients with complex medical conditions requiring treatment by world-class surgeons adept at applying the very latest methods and technology.

The UCLA Division of General Surgery, led by Dr. O. Joe Hines, Chair of the Department of Surgery, is staffed by full-time, board-certified surgeons organized into five sections:

• Bariatric/Minimally Invasive Surgery(Link opens in new window) – Surgery for weight loss and robotic surgery
• Colorectal Surgery(Link opens in new window) – Colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease
• Endocrine Center(Link opens in new window) – Diseases of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands
• Gastrointestinal Surgery(Link opens in new window) – Gastric (stomach) cancer and diseases of the small intestines
• Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care(Link opens in new window) – Surgery for the injured and critically ill

What is General Surgery?

Despite its “general” name, modern general surgery comprises a constellation of highly specific subspecialties, each requiring many years of rigorous training for the development of expertise.  General surgery has undergone considerable evolution over the past century and has developed alongside advances in technology. These range from the gastrointestinal tract (stomach and intestines), to the endocrine (hormone-secreting) glands, to the abdominal wall (where defects result in hernias), and to the skin and breasts.  General surgeons remain among the most broadly and thoroughly trained physicians. The deep skill set of the general surgeon is manifest in our frequent involvement in life-threatening situations and the fact that we remain entrusted by society to care for the injured and critically ill.