Meet Dr. Michael Vardy
Michael Vardy, MD, is the chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Vardy is a well-known and widely respected surgeon, educator, author, and researcher who comes to Saint Peter’s from Englewood Hospital in North Jersey where he served as director of Urogynecology for 21 years and for six years as chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He was awarded the June Alyson Award for his research on the effect of estrogen on the biomechanical properties of pelvic ligaments. In 2005, he founded the fellowship program in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York City where he served as division and fellowship director and was promoted to associate professor. In 2009, Dr. Vardy established Englewood Hospital’s Urogynecologic Robotic program.
Dr. Vardy graduated from the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv, Israel, and completed his residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. After three years as a practicing general OB/GYN at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, he returned to Montefiore to complete a fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery/Urogynecology.
During his fellowship at Montefiore Hospital in Bronx, NY, Dr. Vardy gained early exposure to minimally invasive and robotic surgical techniques. He completed his first robotic sacral colpopexy to repair pelvic organ prolapse at Mount Sinai Hospital in 2006. For over 15 years, his main approach to prolapse surgery has been through minimally invasive robotic surgery via the da Vinci® Surgical System, a technology that allows surgeons to use smaller and more precise instruments. The da Vinci Surgical System magnifies the surgical area 10 times to what the human eye sees, allowing the surgeon to have more visibility during a procedure. Robotic surgery advantages include reduced blood loss and scarring, faster recovery, and better surgical outcomes overall.
Seeing robotic techniques as the forefront of minimally invasive surgery, Dr. Vardy has trained dozens of fellows and residents on the use of the da Vinci robot at Mount Sinai Hospital, Englewood Hospital, and now Saint Peter's University Hospital.
Beyond the scope of urogynecology, Dr. Vardy has performed minimally invasive robotic surgeries such as:
- Endometriosis surgery
- Fistula repair (separating two organ systems that have become connected)
- Hysterectomy (removal of the uterus either completely or leaving the cervix behind)
- Myomectomy (removal of fibroids while preserving the uterus)
- Ovarian cystectomy (removal of a cyst from the ovary)
- Partial cystectomy (wedge resection of a portion of the bladder)
- Removal of benign lesions
- Removal of mesh
- Lysis of adhesions (disconnecting pelvic structures that may have gotten stuck to the abdominal sidewall or to other organs as a result of prior surgery or infection, or endometriosis)
At Saint Peter’s, Dr. Vardy also serves as the director of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery. Urogynecology is a subspecialty focused on diagnosing and treating pelvic floor disorders in women, such as urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and pelvic pain. Pelvic reconstructive surgery is a major component, involving procedures to correct anatomical defects and restore normal pelvic anatomy and function.