Joshua D. Sommovilla, MD, and Emre Gorgun, MD

Scott R. Steele, MD, MBA, FACS, FASCRS, FPSCRS (Hon.)

Dr. Joshua Sommovilla is a Staff Colon and Rectal Surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic here in Cleveland, OH. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. He attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT for undergraduate, where he studied Neuroscience and Behavior. He then went to medical school at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, where he graduated Cum Laude/AOA. He then went on to Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University for his General Surgery Residency in St. Louis, MO, which included a 3-year Surgery Research Fellowship—ultimately finishing in 2018. Josh's unique pathway continued, as he followed with a Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, before completing his Colorectal Surgery fellowship at Ochsner Clinic and Medical Center in New Orleans, LA. Josh then joined us at the Cleveland Clinic, completing an Advanced Fellowship in Hereditary Colorectal Cancer Syndromes within our Weiss Center, and he has remained on staff with us here ever since. He recently took over as the fellowship program director, in addition to his other clinical and leadership duties.

Josh is a busy clinical surgeon, focusing not only on cancer, but all aspects of colorectal surgery. He has recently added endoluminal surgery (ESD) to his repertoire, of which both he and Dr. Gorgun perform high volumes. His clinical and research interests are in education, serious illness communication in surgical patients, and colorectal cancer, especially regarding patients with hereditary colorectal neoplasms. He has multiple peer-reviewed publications and has given multiple lectures regionally and nationally in our field. He also serves as the American College of Surgeons Advisory Council for Colon and Rectal Surgery as the RAS Council Member.

He and his wife Hope have two beautiful dogs, and they enjoy hiking through the Metro Parks and going to Lake Erie. Outside of medicine he enjoys reading, running, and playing pedal steel guitar.

Dr. Emre Gorgun is the Vice Chair of the Colorectal Surgery Department and the Director of Endoluminal Surgery Center (LGI) at the Cleveland Clinic. He is also the holder of the Krause- Lieberman Trust Endowed Chair in Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery. Dr. Gorgun joined Cleveland Clinic, Department of Colorectal Surgery as a full-time faculty in 2011 and he is certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and American Board of Surgery.

Dr. Gorgun obtained his medical degree from Istanbul University, Istanbul School of Medicine, Turkey. After he completed 5 years of general surgery residency training at Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa School of Medicine in Turkey, he moved to the United States. He finished 2 years of research fellowship followed by a year of clinical fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, Department of Colorectal Surgery.

He moved to New York City for an advanced laparoscopic colorectal fellowship at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell. In New York, he also completed an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-approved residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell Medical College. Dr. Gorgun then also completed an ACGME-approved specialty training in Colon and Rectal surgery/laparoscopic surgery at Weill-Cornell and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Gorgun pioneered at his own institution and nationally advanced endoscopic approaches and endoluminal surgery (ELS) and developed programs and currently leading them. He also contributed to robotic colorectal surgery and trained many colorectal fellows and surgeons nationally and internationally and developed colorectal robotic surgery programs and techniques including endorobotic submucosal dissection. Dr. Gorgun's specialty interests include ELS, minimally invasive colorectal and laparoscopic colorectal surgery, robotic colorectal surgery, laparo-endoscopic surgery, rectal cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Dr. Gorgun is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, and Central Surgical Association, among others and the president of the Ohio Valley Colorectal Surgical Society. He has over 250 peer-reviewed publications, many book chapters, invited national and international lectures, and podium presentations. He and his wife, Aylin, have two children, as well as their dog, Hani. Outside of work, he enjoys sailing, skiing, and traveling.

On a personal note, it has been wonderful to have both Emre and Josh on our team here at Cleveland Clinic Foundation and help lead the organization and train fellows and residents. In addition to being innovative, they are incredibly busy and wonderful surgeons, doctors, and people. On behalf of the readers and staff of Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, I want to sincerely thank Drs. Gorgun and Sommovilla for serving as Guest Editors and for providing us with an incredible issue exploring some of the controversies in rectal cancer.

Publication History

Article published online:
25 July 2023