The Latest Compilation


Enjoy – a short ad for the Bogota Guide to Medical Tourism featuring Bogota’s Hottest Young Surgeons – including Dr. Juan Pablo Umana, Dr. Ivan Adolfo Santos, Dr. Juan Carlos Garzon, Dr. Freddy Sanabria and Dr. Felix Castro. If you haven’t heard about Bogota’s best and brightest – you haven’t heard anything yet.

New article at Colombia Reports.com


Bogota’s Hottest Young Surgeons is my latest article on Colombia Reports – talking about some of the great young surgeons here in the capital;

1. Dr. Juan Pablo Umana (cardiac surgeon)

2/3. Dr. Ivan Santos and Dr. Freddy Sanabria, (plastic surgeons)

4. Dr. Costanza Moreno (orthopedics)

5.  Dr. Juan Carlos Garzon (thoracic surgeon) and

6. Dr. Jose Felix Castro (general surgeon)

and some of the things they are doing (which all of my loyal readers already know all about!)

It was a different style of writing than I am used to – but I enjoyed it, and hope to do another article in the future.

Update: After getting a few requests – I’ve re-posted the article here.  (But, I’d appreciate it if you went to Colombia Reports anyway, so the editors can know how many people are reading the articles – and hope that they will publish more in the future!)

From Colombia Reports.com

Bogota’s Hottest Young Surgeons
Don’t let their youth fool you. These young Bogota surgeons are well versed in the latest technologies and the newest surgical techniques, and are changing the face of, and bringing new sophistication to the capital’s medical community.

Colombia news - docDr. Juan Pablo Umana, 46, Cardiac surgeon

A Bogota native, Dr. Juan Pablo Umana, with his Stanford education, quintessential rugged good looks and a refreshing outlook, brings a California flavor to Fundacion Cardioinfantil, where he has been the Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery since 2004.  He, along with Dr. Nestor Sandoval have ushered in a new era of Cardiac Surgery in Bogota with a expanding and state-of-the-art cardiac surgery service line.  Notably, in 1997, Dr. Umana along with Dr. Memhet Oz invented the first mitral clip for percutaneous valve repair. During surgery, he is focused, meticulous and unflappable.  Despite being the most senior of the surgeons listed here, he is just hitting his stride.

Colombia news - doc

Dr. Ivan Adolfo Santos, 41, Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Ivan Santos operates at Clinica Shaio, and is one of a trio of celebrity plastic surgeons here in Bogota. Genetically blessed, he looks ten years younger than his 41 years. In spite of his boyish good looks and shy nature, Dr. Santos is a confident and talented surgeon; more importantly, he gets results. Watching Dr. Santos operate is similar to watching a symphony conductor orchestrate classic music composures with 160 musicians. He never misses a beat, and he is simultaneously aware of everything around him. With his precision in the operating room and aggressive post-operative therapies, patients recover faster, with less pain, and leave his office looking and feeling their best.

Colombia news - doc

Dra. Constanza Moreno Serrano, 40, Orthopedic Surgeon

Dra. Constanza Moreno is orthopedic surgeon specializing in hand and microsurgery such as digital reattachment after traumatic injury, reconstructive surgery and correction of congenital deformities. After training with the famed Dr. Harold Kleinert and Dr. Breidenbach III in Louisville, Kentucky, she returned to Bogota in 2005.  She is currently developing a hand transplant program for victims of landmines. Next week, she is presenting her proposal at the International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society in Atlanta, Georgia.

Colombia news - doc

Dr. Juan Carlos Garzon, 39, Thoracic Surgeon

Dr. Juan Carlos Garzon is a man of action; operating at several facilities across Bogota. Trained in Hong Kong, Dr. Garzon excels at the more difficult thoracic cases. As one of just a few board-certified thoracic surgeons in Colombia, he is using video-assisted thoracoscopy to able to treat complex disease with minimal incisions.  He is also teaching this technique to surgeons across Colombia. During cases, he is relaxed, controlled and ready for anything.

Colombia news - doc

Dr. Freddy Sanabria S., 38, Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Freddy Sanabria, a young Richard Gere look-a-like, makes his own pretty women as one-half of the Sanabria plastic surgery practice. Trained at the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University, he brings skill, dedication and the latest cosmetic innovations to a well-established surgical clinic. While operating, he is confident, focused and detail oriented, and his surgical team anticipates his every need.

Colombia news - doc

Dr. Jose Felix Castro, 37, General Surgeon

Dr. Jose Felix Castro is a staff surgeon at Clinica del Country. This magna cum laude academic scholar is one of a few of the talented young general surgeons in Bogota who have embraced single port laparoscopy, which means abdominal surgery without a scar. While Dr. Castro is the youngest of our line up, he brings a wealth of experience to the operating room.

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In the the OR with Dr. Juan Pablo Umana & Dr. Ricardo Nasser


Dr. Juan Pablo Umana, cardiac surgeon

Dr. Juan Pablo Umana

Cardiac Surgeon at Fundacion Cardioinfantil

Spent the morning in the operating room with Dr. Juan Pablo Umana. Dr. Umana is the Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery at Cardioinfantil.

Ran into an old friend while I was there..

Dr. Jose Pomares, Anesthesia

Dr. Pomares was a anesthesia resident over at Medihelp in Cartagena, when I was writing hidden gem.. I recognized those emerald eyes right away.. (not sure if I would have recognized him without the mask.)

Dr. Umana had another case, but so did I – over at Santa Fe de Bogota..

Went back to see Dr. Ricardo Nasser, Chief of Bariatric Surgery. He just returned from the Bariatric Surgery conference in Cartagena, and was back at work, in the operating room.

Dr. Ricardo Nasser

Bariatric Surgeon – Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota

Dr. Richard Nasser, Bariatric surgeon

The Umana Phenomenon


Dr. Juan Pablo Umana, Cardioinfantil

Since starting the Bogota project, I’ve followed the reported statistics for the blog – which tells me what my readers are looking for, and what they want.. Much of this is as expected – heavily advertised plastic surgeons bring a lot of traffic to the site – and the cardiovascular topics (cardiac surgery, carotid disease) bring quite a few readers to the sister site,  cartagenasurgery, so I’ve tried to gear some of the discussions to what people have been looking for..

But then, there are findings that are not what I expected:
And the biggest surprise of all has been the continued fascination/ success / popularity of Dr. Juan Pablo Umana..

in the operating room with Dr. Juan Pablo Umana

Or perhaps, I should phrase that better: after meeting and interviewing with Dr. Umana – his professional success as Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Cardioinfantil is certainly NO surprise.. what has surprised me is his consistent ranking as the #1 search term for this/ and the cartagena surgery website..

In fact, this week; “Dr. Juan Pablo Umana”, “Juan P. Umana,” and “Umana, cardioinfantil” are the top three search terms, respectively.

I spoke to him about it (he’s just as surprised as I am; heart surgeons are not usually web celebrities, if you exclude Dr. Oz) and we are planning to meet again, so I can try and give my readers what they want.. So, if there is anything specific that you want to know – drop me a line or a comment, and I will be sure to ask him at our next meeting.  But now I’ve got to run and meet Dr. Sanabria..