JOHN M. RABKIN, MD, FACS
Director, Pacific Laparoscopy
CURRICULUM VITAE
Dr. Rabkin graduated from Boston University’s combined program in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Sciences receiving a Bachelor of Arts and his MD degree in 1982. He received his surgical training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and completed his internship in Surgery in 1983. This was followed by a residency in General Surgery at UCSF from 1983 through 1988. During this time, he pursued basic research interests in wound repair/healing and surgical infections, studying and working in the basic science laboratory from 1985-1987 under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Hunt at UCSF. He served as Chief Resident in General Surgery at UCSF from 1988-1989. Dr. Rabkin spent the next two years specializing and training in a post residency Fellowship in Transplantation at both UCSF and the University of Minnesota.
After completing his formal training in 1991, Dr. Rabkin was recruited to the Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon and was Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Section of Liver/Pancreas Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery in the Medical School. He built a basic science laboratory in the OHSU Department of Surgery to study transplant immunology. Dr. Rabkin initiated programs in Liver and Pancreas Transplantation at the University Hospital as well as at the Portland Veterans Administration Hospital in Portland, Oregon. He has also been very active in Organ Donation and Recovery efforts and served as the Medical Director of the Pacific Northwest Transplant Bank from 1993-2001 as well as on multiple committee assignments with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Dr. Rabkin has been practicing bariatric surgery along with liver transplantation and complex hepatobiliary surgery since relocating to San Francisco since 2002. He has helped to develop innovative surgical approaches to treat morbid obesity and is a recognized expert for the Laparoscopic Duodenal Switch procedure, having the largest series of patients in the US.
Dr. Rabkin is a fellow of the American College of Surgery and is certified by the American Board of Surgery. He is a member of multiple surgical societies including the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, the North Pacific Surgical Association, the Society of Transplant Surgeons, and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He is active in research in bariatric surgery and serves as a reviewer for the journal “Surgery For Obesity and Related Diseases”. His current position is Medical Director for Pacific Laparoscopy, a premier bariatric surgical practice located in San Francisco.
