Department of Surgery | Faculty & Staff

Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS: Professor; Daniel.Albo@utrgv.edu

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS
Professor
Surgery
Email: Daniel.Albo@utrgv.edu

Dr. Albo, a nationally and internationally renowned Surgical Oncologist, is a Tenured Professor and Chair of Surgery at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) School of Medicine. In this capacity, he will help lead and develop all Clinical, Educational, and Research Programs for UTRGV.

Dr. Albo previously served at AU as the Chairman of the Department of Surgery where he oversaw all clinical, educational, research, faculty development and administrative aspects of the Department of Surgery in one of the largest Medical Schools in the country. Dr. Albo also served as the Surgeon-In-Chief at Augusta University Health System. He played an integral role in the development of a matrix-style Perioperative Services organization, a multidisciplinary, horizontal integration health system that oversees all aspects of quality, efficiency, quality assessment and quality improvement in the care of all surgical patients across the health system. During his tenure, AUHS has accomplished all-time high volumes, efficiencies and quality in the Perioperative Services.

He previously served as the Director of the Cancer Center Service Line, at the Georgia Cancer Center. In his role, Dr. Albo was instrumental in the development of an integrated cancer service line model that continues to oversee all cancer clinical operations and clinical trials activities for the Augusta University Health System.

With a Certificate in Medical and Health Care Management obtained from the prestigious Jones Graduate School of Business. Rice University, Dr. Albo has almost two decades of experience in helping design and implement Matrix organizations in Surgery and Cancer in a variety of Health System models.

Dr. Albo earned his medical degree Magna Cum Laude at the University of the Republic, Uruguay, in 1991. He completed his General Surgery residency and obtained a PhD degree in Molecular Pathobiology at Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2000. He completed a Surgical Oncology fellowship at the UTMD Anderson Cancer Center in 2002 before joining the Medical College of Georgia, where he helped develop a Surgical Oncology program and a multidisciplinary MD/PhD program in Oncology. He then moved to the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, TX, in 2004. At BCM, he was first the Chief of General Surgery and Director of the Operating Room for the Houston VA Medical Center, where he developed Surgical Oncology and Minimally Invasive surgical services as well as a Colorectal Cancer Center, the latter two firsts in the VA system. He was subsequently named the Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery and the Director for Surgical Network Development, helping develop Surgical Oncology and Minimally Invasive Surgery services throughout the Baylor system.

Dr. Albo has held leadership roles in several academic surgical societies, including being the President for the Association for Academic Surgery. His leadership has been influential in the transformation of the AAS into one of the leading Academic surgical societies in the world. He has been instrumental in the development of several key AAS initiatives, including the creation of highly successful international Academic Career Development courses, currently held in multiple countries worldwide.

Dr. Albo’s clinical expertise is on minimally invasive complex surgical oncology with emphasis in colorectal and hepatobiliary surgery. He has one of the highest utilization rates for laparoscopic surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer in the US, resulting in significant outcomes advantages for patients. His clinical expertise has resulted in several awards, including the prestigious Michael E. DeBakey Distinguished Service Award Medal. Earning the recognition of his peers, he has been consistently listed in the Best Doctors in America, America’s Top Surgeons, and America’s Top Surgical Oncologist lists.

Dr. Albo is a dedicated surgical educator. He has been awarded several prestigious teaching awards, including the Golden Stethoscope, Golden Apple, Jorge I. Cué, MD, and Gene A. Guinn, MD Teaching Awards. He has developed a unique MIS colorectal re-training program that has successfully lead to the conversion of open colorectal surgical units into minimally invasive ones in several countries, allowing for a rapid assimilation of minimally invasive concepts and highly reproducible excellent clinical results. In addition, he has helped develop one of the most advanced surgical simulation curricula for the training of students and residents. He is a sought-after lecturer and has given numerous presentations, Grand Round and Visiting Professor lectures worldwide.

His research has focused on translational and health services research in surgical oncology and minimally invasive surgery. In the Health Services research arena, he has studied minimally invasive surgery (MIS) utilization patterns as well as barriers and facilitators for a widespread adoption of MIS in colorectal disease. He has extensively studied the impact MIS has in reducing the cost of care in colorectal surgery. His work has also focused on issues of health care disparities for minorities in surgical oncology. He has published extensively and is considered an expert in the development of fully integrated multidisciplinary clinical models in surgery and cancer. In the translational research arena, his work has focused on the mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastases and biomarker discovery. He has considerable expertise in the fields of perineural invasion and neurogenesis.

His work has resulted in over 100 manuscripts, multiple book chapters and several research grants and awards. In addition, he is a co-editor of the Operative Techniques in General Surgery and editor of the Operative Techniques in Colorectal Surgery textbooks.

Dr. Albo lists his family as his most significant accomplishment in life. His lovely wife since 1991 (she has tremendous patience!), Luisa, a very accomplished professional photographer and artist, and his two wonderful children, Camila (now a Medical Student at the Medical College of Georgia) and Nicolas Matías, are the light of his eyes.

Daniel Bolton, MD: Assistant Professor of Surgery; Daniel.Bolton@utrgv.edu

Daniel Bolton, MD

Daniel Bolton, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Daniel.Bolton@utrgv.edu

Alejandro Candil, MD: Assistant Professor of Surgery; Alejandro.Candil@utrgv.edu

Alejandro Candil, MD

Alejandro Candil, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Alejandro.Candil@utrgv.edu

Christine Dahlhausen, MD: Assistant Professor of Surgery; Christine.Dahlhausen@utrgv.edu

Christine Dahlhausen, MD

Christine Dahlhausen, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Christine.Dahlhausen@utrgv.edu

Maxwell Falkoff: Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery; Maxwell.Falkoff@utrgv.edu

Maxwell Falkoff

Maxwell Falkoff
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Maxwell.Falkoff@utrgv.edu

Edward Kruse, DO: Professor of Surgery; Edward.Kruse@utrgv.edu

Edward Kruse, DO

Edward Kruse, DO
Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Edward.Kruse@utrgv.edu

Ann McCracken, MD: Assistant Professor of Surgery; Ann.McCracken@utrgv.edu

Ann McCracken, MD

Ann McCracken, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Ann.McCracken@utrgv.edu

Lucia Nguyen, MD: Assistant Professor of Surgery; Lucia.Nguyen@utrgv.edu

Lucia Nguyen, MD

Lucia Nguyen, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Lucia.Nguyen@utrgv.edu

Lucia Nguyen, MD, is an assistant professor of Surgery at The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and obtained her Doctor of Medicine degree from The University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. She completed her residency training in General Surgery at Baylor Scott and White Memorial Health Center. She left the hill countryside of Texas to the saguaro lands of Tucson Arizona for fellowship training in Trauma Surgery, Acute Care Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care at the 2-year AAST-accredited program at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Nguyen is currently on the Editorial Board of the Trauma Surgery Acute Care Open and the Committee of Community Engagement as part of the Eastern Association of Surgery of Trauma. Her surgical interests are quality improvement, outcomes research, survivorship, and surgical innovation. Clinical interests include traumatic chest wall and abdominal wall reconstruction, video-assisted thoracic surgery, biliary disease, and perforated diverticulitis. She will work on enhancing the acute care surgery program by developing evidence-based protocols to improve the quality of care in this critically ill patient population.

Henry Reinhart, MD, FACS: Associate Professor of Surgery; Henry.Reinhart@utrgv.edu

Henry Reinhart, MD, FACS

Henry Reinhart, MD, FACS
Associate Professor of Surgery
Surgery
Email: Henry.Reinhart@utrgv.edu

Dr. Reinhart was born and raised in El Paso, Texas and received his undergraduate degree in International Business from Texas Tech University. He then attended UT Southwestern medical school before going back to El Paso for his general surgery residency at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. During that time he was awarded the Raleigh Ross Scholarship by the Texas Surgical Society among other awards. He then went on to complete a fellowship in endocrine surgery at the Scott and White clinic in Temple, TX. He joined UTRGV SOM and UT Health RGV in 2017.  Dr. Reinhart is a member of The American College of Surgeons and the founding program director of the General Surgery residency program at Valley Baptist Medical Center.

Organization Chart Faculty & Staff

Department Chair

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS

Contact

Surgery
2121 Pease Street, Suite 507
Harlingen, TX 78550
Phone: (956) 296-1449
Email: Surgery@utrgv.edu

Surgery

Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Daniel Albo, MD, PhD, FACS

Daniel Bolton, MD

Alejandro Candil, MD

Christine Dahlhausen, MD

Maxwell Falkoff

Edward Kruse, DO

Ann McCracken, MD

Lucia Nguyen, MD

Henry Reinhart, MD, FACS

Department Chair

Contact

Campus Locations

Edinburg

Harlingen

Brownsville

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