Dr. Pat Sylla graduated from Cornell Weill Medical College and completed her surgical residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She subsequently completed a colorectal fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC followed by a fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital where she practiced for 7 years. Dr. Sylla is an innovator with particular interest in minimally invasive approaches to colorectal diseases. In 2009, she performed the first transanal total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer (taTME) with her colleagues in Barcelona. Dr. Sylla is Professor of Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine and System Chief of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Mount Sinai Health System. She is also the Director of Clinical Trials and Vice Chair of DEI for the Department of Surgery as well as Associate Director for the Colorectal Fellowship Program. She is the current president of SAGES.