Jersey Shore University Medical Center Appoints Thomas Bauer, M.D., as Chair of Surgery

Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center recently announced Thomas L. Bauer, M.D., MBA, was selected by a Search Committee to serve as Chair of Surgery for the medical center and has been endorsed by Kenneth N. Sable, M.D., MBA, FACEP, Hackensack Meridian Health regional president, southern market.

“Tom is an accomplished surgeon and exceptional leader,” said Kim L. Carpenter M.D., FAAFP, CTHQS. “I’m pleased he will lead our surgical teams and confident he will enhance our already high standards of quality and safety so we continue to provide exceptional outcomes for our patients.”

Dr. Bauer previously served as medical director of Thoracic Oncology for Hackensack Meridian Health Cancer Care in Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex counties, and chief of thoracic surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. He is a board certified thoracic surgeon, specializing in lung, esophageal, and thoracic disease. Dr. Bauer is also an associate professor of surgery at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.

“I’m very excited to enter into this new role for our academic medical center and have set a number of goals to develop our surgical services,” said Dr. Bauer. “As an academic medical center, it’s important we continue to expand our educational programs, participate in additional areas of clinical research, and augment our culture of surgical education for resident physicians in training. At the same time, I will work to institute new and supportive policies and procedures to ensure the continued delivery of safe and high-quality surgical care.”

Prior to joining Hackensack Meridian Health in 2014, Dr. Bauer was a practicing thoracic surgeon for 12 years at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center at Christiana Care in Newark, Delaware where he served as the Chief of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Bauer was also Associate Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College and held academic appointments for over a decade. Dr. Bauer’s specific clinical expertise includes: aero-digestive tract stenting, CyberKnife, minimally invasive transthoracic and transhiatal esophagectomy, mediastinal tumors, laparoscopic repair paraesophageal hernias and Heller myotomy VATS and various robotics procedures. In addition, he has significant expertise in advanced diaphragmatic pacing, reconstruction and plication programs.

Dr. Bauer is devoted to continuing education and has developed numerous clinical research and educational programs sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bauer has written and contributed to more than 130 academic presentations, abstracts, and journals. He is a fellow/member of numerous professional organizations and has authored peer reviewed articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Internal Medicine, and The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He is also on the editorial board of Journal of Surgical Oncology and Annals of Surgical Oncology. He has also led or participated in many research grants totaling over $2 million dollars in his career.

For more information about the medical center, visit www.jerseyshoreuniversitymedicalcenter.com/.