Our Surgeons

Michael G. Caty, MD, MMM, the new chief of pediatric surgery for the Department of Surgery and Yale Medical Group, and pediatric surgeon-in-chief of Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH), sees exciting potential to take pediatric surgery here to a new level.

Dr. Caty obtained his medical degree at the University of Massachusetts. He completed his general surgery training at the University of Michigan, where he served as administrative chief resident and pursued a research fellowship investigating intestinal injury during ischemia and reperfusion. He finished his pediatric surgery residency at Children’s Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School, where he served as chief resident. He recently completed a Masters degree in Medical Management from the Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.In Buffalo, where he worked since 1993, Dr. Caty was surgeon-in-chief and director of pediatric surgical services. He was considered the driving physician leader for the planning and development of moving both the inpatient and outpatient services to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

He was a professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Board-certified in pediatric and general surgery, his clinical interests include neonatal surgery, thoracic surgery, intestinal motility disorders, pediatric surgical oncology, pediatric laparoscopy and minimally invasive thoracic surgery.

Dr. Caty is a member of the American College of Surgeons, American Pediatric Surgical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Association for Academic Surgery, Society of University Surgeons and many others. This month he is being inducted into the American Surgical Association, the oldest and most exclusive surgical society in the United States.

Emily Christison-Lagay is a pediatric surgeon specializing in patients with cancer. She is board-certified in surgery and pediatric surgery, and has dedicated interest in pediatric solid tumors including thoracic, liver, and renal tumors, as well as neuroblastoma, childhood sarcomas, and pediatric diseases of the thyroid. She also enjoys general pediatric surgery including neonatal care.She completed her medical degree at Harvard Medical School and her general surgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, with research in tumor angiogenesis at Boston Children's Hospital. From there, she completed a pediatric surgical fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, followed by a "super"-fellowship in pediatric surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Robert A. Cowles, MD is board certified in Pediatric Surgery, Advanced Life Support, Basic Life Support and as an ATLS Provider. Dr. Cowles earned his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was a Chief Resident of Pediatric Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of New York, Columbia University.

Dr. Cowles was the Program Director of the Pediatric Surgery Fellowship, Division of Pediatric Surgery, at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York and Columbia University before coming to Yale Pediatric Surgery.

Catherine Dinauer is a Pediatric Endocrinologist and Clinician at the Yale Pediatric Thyroid Center, within the Division of Pediatric Surgery. She earned her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and her medical degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Dr. Dinauer completed Pediatric residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and Pediatric Endocrinology fellowship through the National Capitol Area Pediatric Consortium at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland. Following her training, Dr. Dinauer served as an Attending in Pediatric Endocrinology at Walter Reed, worked in research administration as Assistant Chief of the Department of Clinical Investigation, and was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at USUHS. Since 2006, her clinical practice has focused on pediatric thyroid disorders. She has a particular interest in childhood thyroid cancer and is a member of the American Thyroid Association committee creating guidelines for the management of thyroid cancer in children.

Robert James Touloukian MD, FACS, is board certified in Pediatric Surgery. He received his medical degree from Columbia University. Dr. Touloukian was Chief Resident at Bellvue Hospital, New York, NY in the Surgical Division followed by Chief Resident at Babies Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY in Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Touloukian’s research interests include pediatric trauma, tumors and newborn surgery and his clinical interests include neonatal surgery, trauma, tumors, head and neck surgery, thoracic surgery, and pediatric oncology.