Meet the Team
Join a Deep, Collaborative Team with Complementary Expertise
When you join the general surgery team at Eisenhower Medical Center, you’ll become part of a high-performing, collegial group whose breadth of training, experience, and subspecialty interests offer both a stable foundation and meaningful opportunities for personal growth.
Team Composition & Subspecialty Strengths
- The department comprises 10 full-time general surgeons covering subspecialties including colorectal, bariatric, foregut/MIS, and advanced robotic surgery.
- Key colleagues include:
- Jorge Alfredo Almodovar, MD – General Surgery / Bariatric Surgery
- Ricardo Gonzalez Cacdac, MD – General Surgery / Colon & Rectal Surgery
- Steve Ho Choe, MD – General Surgery (Foregut/MIS emphasis)
- Mohammed Iyoob Mohammed Ilyas, MD – General Surgery / Colon & Rectal Surgery
- Nhat C. Nguyen Minh, MD – General Surgery
- Jose Muniz Castro, MD – General Surgery / Colon & Rectal Surgery
- Justin Michael Reckard, MD – General Surgery
- Karl A. Schulz, MD – General Surgery (senior faculty)
- Peter Robert Schulz, MD – General Surgery (senior faculty)
- Norby Chart Wang, MD – General Surgery (MIS/Robotics focus)
Mentorship & Growth Opportunities
- Seasoned mentorship: Senior partners like Drs. Karl and Peter Schulz (30+ years in practice) offer hands-on guidance for early-career surgeons.
- Innovative peer collaboration: Surgeons like Dr. Norby Wang and Dr. Steve Choe actively advance robotics and minimally invasive techniques.
- Strategic succession planning: Several senior faculty plan to retire in the next five years, opening doors for leadership growth, niche development, and long-term service line impact.
Support Infrastructure & Team Dynamics
- Dedicated NP support helps cover rounding, consults, and discharge planning — keeping your focus in the OR.
- Robust robotics infrastructure includes a robotics RN manager and specialty tech embedded in the general surgery team.
- Flexible scheduling and collaborative culture: no internal competition, and colleagues regularly share case insights and techniques.
Work-Life Balance & Team Stability
- 1:12 call rotation with structured weekend coverage ensures predictable time off and sustainable work-life integration.
- The size of the team means you’ll never feel overburdened or “always on call.”
- Strong institutional support — from robotic resources to OR block access — enables both efficiency and clinical excellence.
Your Place in the Team
- Strategic hire: This is not a replacement role but a proactive expansion, ensuring immediate case access and long-term growth potential.
- Tailor your focus — from bariatrics to colorectal to robotic innovation — and actively shape your subspecialty program.
- Collaborative team culture: Expect mutual support, shared learning, and joint management of high-acuity cases with NP and tech teams.
- You’ll have a voice in service line design, call structure, and pathway innovation—helping drive the department forward.
This is a robust, balanced, and forward-looking department that gives you both the stability of an established team and the freedom to chart your own course.
Meet the full general surgery team on the Eisenhower Health website →