Dr. Talamini has extensive experience in performing abdominal laparoscopic procedures and da Vinci robot-assisted surgeries including laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery and gall bladder removal. He is a member of the UCSD Moores Cancer Center’s team of top cancer surgeons, specializing in surgery for gastric, pancreatic, and colon cancer.

Dr. Talamini was Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1992 to 2004. There, he pioneered in a number of minimally invasive surgical techniques for abdominal problems. He was one of the first surgeons at Johns Hopkins to use robot-assisted laparoscopic techniques for general abdominal procedures such as gallbladder removal and treatment of gastroesophageal reflux. I

In his research at UCSD, Dr. Talamini investigates the techniques and outcomes of minimally invasive surgery. He studies the surgical results and costs of traditional versus new surgical procedures, assesses the effects of minimally invasive procedures on the patient, and develops new techniques for robotic surgery and robot-assisted telemedicine. He investigates the biology of minimally invasive surgery, determining how the body responds to the techniques used in laparoscopy and focusing on methods for improving surgical outcomes and decreasing the impact of surgery. He also studies aspects of inflammatory bowel diseases, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, and colon cancer.

Telemedicine is another of Dr. Talamini’s special interests. Telemedicine is the delivery of health care from a distance, using communication technologies such as interactive video, computers, telephones, digital imaging, and email. This new medical technology makes it possible for specialists to communicate with patients or with other doctors who are caring for patients in remote locations, bringing the latest medical expertise to corners of the world where it was not available before. In a breakthrough procedure in 1996, Dr. Talamini used a telemedicine approach to guide military doctors as they performed an abdominal surgery aboard the USS Lincoln as the ship patrolled international waters.

More recently, he has investigated the use of computer-enhanced robotic telesurgery to improve the outcome of esophageal surgery for achalasia. 

Specialties: Robotic surgery, minimally invasive surgery, Gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary surgery, laparoscopic surgery, inflammatory bowel disease

For details of Dr. Talamini’s experience, education and training, along with a list of his publications, please click on the Curriculum Vitae link under “Online Info” tab.