Juan P. Rocca, M.D.

Juan Pablo Rocca, MD, MHA is the Surgical Director of the Weill Cornell Liver Cancer Program and an attending surgeon in the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine. With 20 years of experience in abdominal organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery, Dr. Rocca specializes in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, colorectal liver metastases, neuroendocrine tumors, gallbladder cancer, and liver cirrhosis.

A recognized leader in minimally invasive liver surgery, Dr. Rocca was an early adopter of laparoscopic techniques for major hepatectomy and later transitioned to robotic surgery for complex liver procedures in patients with chronic liver disease. At Weill Cornell, he led the development of a comprehensive robotic liver surgery program, encompassing liver cancer resections, living liver donation, and the state's first fully robotic liver transplant (1, 2).

In 2024, Dr. Rocca introduced histotripsy (3), a novel non-invasive technology for liver tumor ablation, integrating it into multimodal treatment strategies that combine liver-directed and systemic therapies. He has also served as a principal investigator in multicenter trials evaluating machine perfusion technologies to improve organ preservation in liver transplantation.

Dr. Rocca earned his MD in 1999 from Universidad de Buenos Aires and completed a General Surgery Residency at Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires in 2005. He continued his training in the U.S. with Transplant Surgery Fellowships at Westchester Medical Center and the Northwestern University Comprehensive Transplant Center, completing his surgical training in 2009. In 2019, he earned an Executive Master in Health Administration (MHA) from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Links from the underscored text: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-024-11474-7 https://www.nyp.org/news/nyp-performs-first-fully-robotic-liver-transplant-in-new-york https://www.nyp.org/advances/article/liver-cancer-program-among-the-first-in-the-country-to-offer-noninvasive-histotripsy-for-destroying-cancerous-liver-tumors