Lee Richstone, MD
Lee Richstone, MD is the Director of Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery at the Smith Institute for Urology, at the North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Hospital. He specializes in laparoscopic and robotic surgery for malignant as well as benign disease. Specifically, Dr. Richstone specializes in prostate, kidney, bladder, adrenal, and testicular cancers. He is a pioneer in robotic surgery for prostate and bladder cancer, being the first to perform robotic radical cystectomy on Long Island. He has perfomed several hundred robotic prostatectomies, with a focus on preserving urinary continence and sexual function. After completing his medical training at the Weill-Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering, Dr. Richstone completed his fellowship training with Dr. Louis R. Kavoussi, a world leader in urologic laparoscopic surgery. Dr. Richstone’s research interests include the development of novel methods to assess surgeon competency for credentialing and resident education. He has been awarded two Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program Grants to pursue this work. He has been published in leading national and international journals including The Journal of Urology, Urology, The British Journal of Urology, The Journal of Endourology, Cancer, and Cell.
Dr. Richstone has also pioneered Laparoendoscopic Single Site Surgery (LESS), where entire laparoscopic operations are performed only through the umbilicus ("belly button"), with no other scars. The Smith Institute for Urology is the only center in New York performing such surgery. In fact, Dr. Richstone is one of only two surgeons in the United States to have performed single site partial nephrectomy and prostatectomy.
Dr. Richstone completed his medical school training and residency at the Weill-Cornell University Medical College in New York City. There he won early acceptance into Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the prestigious national medical honor society. At Cornell, Dr. Richstone was the recipient of several awards, including the E. Darracott Vaughan Prize for Excellence in Urology (2000), The Ferdinand C. Valentine Urology Essay Prize (First Place, 2005), The American Urological Association-Ambrose Reed Socioeconomic Essay Contest (First Place, 2005), and the Weill-Cornell Distinguished House Officer Award (2005). Dr. Richstone was awarded the Stryker and Nagamatsu Fellowship (2007), and won first prize at the Endourology Society Fellowship Paper Award the same year.
Most of all, Dr. Richstone treats patients with a human touch, believing that the most important part of taking care of the patient is caring for the patient. He takes the time to treat each patient as an individual and explain the details of their medical condition and all of the available treatment options. For appointments please call (516) 734-8500.
Specialties
Prostate cancerKidney cancer
Bladder cancer
Adrenal cancer
Testicular cancer
Ureteral obstruction
