From Operating Room to Global Stage: Dr. Cerfolio’s Vision for Patient-Centered Care
Dr. Robert J. Cerfolio’s medical journey has spanned operating rooms across continents, lecture halls in world-renowned institutions, and executive offices at one of the top-ranked hospitals in the United States.
As both a globally recognized thoracic surgeon and former COO of NYU Langone Health, Dr. Cerfolio has consistently earned one core principle throughout his career: patient-centered care.
Dr. Cerfolio’s reputation as America’s leading thoracic surgeon has gained a ‘well-established’ stature through his work in robotic-assisted lung and esophageal surgery. He has broken new ground in minimally invasive techniques, significantly improving patient recovery times, reducing complications, and enhancing surgical precision for patients who suffer from lung cancer, thymic cancer, thoracic outlet syndrome that requires a first rib resection, and those who have hyperhidrosis from excessively sweating hands.
He has repeatedly emphasized that surgical expertise means little without compassion. In his own words, surgeons must not only perform well in the operating room but also function with integrity at home, as parents, partners, and community members.
This belief is grounded in his personal experience, including the loss of his wife to cancer, which reshaped his understanding of empathy and care. It also shapes how he interacts with patients, ensuring they are seen not just as cases or numbers but rather as human beings whose lives are impacted far beyond the surgical table.
Dr. Cerfolio has shared his expertise in over 600 hospitals and academic institutions around the world, lecturing and performing live surgeries in more than a dozen countries. His global reach is not limited to showcasing technique; it is rooted in a philosophy of mentorship and empowerment.
He works closely with local teams, adapting strategies to suit different healthcare environments and promoting sustainable practices that center on patient well-being. Through educational partnerships, surgical demonstrations, and leadership seminars, Dr. Cerfolio encourages a shift in mindset among healthcare professionals: from volume-based care to value-based outcomes.
Dr. Cerfolio emphasizes systems that improve not just how surgeries are performed, but how patients are prepared, educated, and followed up post-operatively. His lectures often focus on the interplay between surgical precision and compassionate delivery, arguing that technical skill
alone is insufficient without emotional intelligence and team-based collaboration and leadership to make everyone around him better.
A defining aspect of Dr. Cerfolio’s approach is servant leadership, a model where leaders focus on the growth and well-being of their teams and patients first. Whether mentoring junior surgeons or coordinating hospital-wide strategy, he applies principles of humility, accountability, and kindness.
Dr. Cerfolio’s influence continues to grow through international collaborations and partnerships. He has helped establish robotic surgery programs abroad and worked with ministries of health in various countries to modernize surgical practices. His impact is also academic; his work appears in leading journals, and he serves on editorial boards and academic panels shaping the future of thoracic and oncologic surgery.
This global perspective informs his broader mission: that every patient, regardless of geography, deserves safe, compassionate, and state-of-the-art care. Whether in a New York operating suite or a hospital in Southeast Asia, the fundamental principles he advocates remain the same – clinical excellence, data-informed decisions, and deep human respect.
From the operating room to global conferences, from surgical mentorship to hospital leadership, Dr. Robert J. Cerfolio has consistently pursued a healthcare model centered on the patient.
His vision combines the rigor of surgical innovation with the depth of personal compassion. In an era where healthcare systems are increasingly complex and impersonal, Dr. Cerfolio’s career stands as a reminder that at the heart of medicine is a simple but profound commitment: to serve the person in front of you with skill, dignity, and care.
