Sarasota Memorial Health Care System has recruited Dr. Sam Agarwal, a nationally recognized colon and rectal surgeon and pioneer in single-incision robotic surgery, to lead the new Division of Colon & Rectal Surgery in its First Physicians Group (FPG) network. Agarwal specializes in the advanced surgical treatment of rectal and colon cancers, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. He is slated to begin accepting new patients this week and will offer a number of new and expanded treatment options previously unavailable in the region, including robotic, laparoscopic, single-incision, colostomy-sparing and no-incision transanal surgical techniques for colorectal conditions.

Prior to joining FPG, Dr. Agarwal led the robotic colorectal surgery team at the Cleveland Clinic Florida and served on the clinical teaching faculty. He also co-developed the robotic colorectal surgery program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and later served as the chief of colon and rectal surgery and chief of robotic surgery at West Virginia University.