John H Marks, MD, FACS, FASCRS, has been the Director of the Colorectal Surgery Center and Chief of the Section of Colorectal Surgery for The Main Line Health System and The Lankenau Medical Center and the Director of the Minimally Invasive Colorectal and Advanced Rectal Cancer Management Fellowship, for close to twenty years. He is the James Widener Ray Chair and Professor of Surgery at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, USA.
Dr. Marks is a graduate of Yale University and the Jefferson Medical College of the Thomas Jefferson University where he received residency training first in general surgery and then residency training in colorectal surgery. He completed a fellowship in advanced laparoscopic colorectal surgery at the University of Nice, France. Dr. Marks is board certified in general surgery and in colorectal surgery.
Dr. Marks’ research and educational programs focus largely on minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic colorectal surgery including and featuring radical and local sphincter preservation resection for rectal cancer after neoadjuvant therapy. He is recognized as an international authority on Full Thickness Local Excision (FTLE) by the Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgical (TEM) method following neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer. The minimally invasive sphincter preserving rectal cancer patient series is one of the largest of its kind and its positive outcomes remain striking. Dr. Marks and his team are dedicated to promoting perioperative comfort, improved quality of life and enhanced cure rates for the colorectal surgical patient. Within that resolve is an active complex of research and educational programs. Dr Marks’ most recent focus has been on the development and application of the Single Port (SP) Robot in colorectal surgery, where he has published extensively on the original SP rTEM and SP rTATA as well as abdominal resections with the SP robot. Perhaps the aspect Dr Marks is most proud of is the tremendous success his former trainees have had, becoming leaders in the field of robotic, laparoscopic and colorectal surgery.