“Our patients always come first,” says board-certified general surgeon Stavros Christoudias, who named Heritage Surgical Group to honor his father, also a surgeon. He and his colleagues Dr. Farshad Mansouri, Dr. David Radvinsky, and Dr. Peter Marta treat a broad spectrum of issues, including surgical oncology, hernia, and colorectal and gallbladder disease, using minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery.

Dr. Christoudias is medical director for the Holy Name Institute for Wound Healing, where he leads a team that uses a multidisciplinary approach and leading-edge treatment options. He adopted his father’s abdominal wall reconstruction technique for complex ventral hernias. This two-layer technique is the gold standard, with better recovery overall and recurrence in just 1 of 500 cases. Working with a plastic surgeon, he has made hernia repairs more enduring. Dr. Christoudias also takes on emergency colon and gallbladder surgery, appendix removal, colon cancer and diverticulitis, and skin and soft tissue masses. He also handles complex hernia repairs turned away by other practices. For most procedures, he uses a long-lasting local anesthetic that numbs pain for three days and nearly eliminates the need for post-operative narcotics.

One of the few remaining independent medical groups in New Jersey, Heritage’s mission is to keep the practice of medicine separate from big business. “We answer to our patients, not a large health-care organization,” Dr. Christoudias says. “My patients know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them.”

HOSPITAL AFFILIATIONS: The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood; Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck; Pascack Valley Medical Center, Westwood; Chilton Medical Center, Pompton Plains. MEDICAL TRAINING: UMDNJ (MD); Morristown Medical Center (internship, residency).