MD – New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
Residency – Surgery, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA

Biography: Dr. Rivfka Shenoy focuses her work on understanding disparities in access to care for gallbladder disease. She ultimately aims to standardize the treatment of symptomatic cholelithiasis with the goal of reducing differences in treatment processes. During her time at NCSP she also studied methods to reduce unwarranted postoperative opioid prescribing. 

As a scholar, Dr. Shenoy received her Master’s in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. One of her projects from these classes was titled: “Symptomatic Cholelithiasis: Do Minority Patients Experience Delays to Surgery?” This work was accepted as a Quick Shot presentation at the 2020 Southwestern Surgical Congress. She repeated her work in the pediatric population and her abstract was accepted for a poster presentation at the 2020 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress.  

For Dr. Shenoy’s main project, she partnered with Dr. Marcia Russell (UCLA/VA) and Dr. Melinda Gibbons (UCLA Surgery Department), and Dr. David Zingmond (UCLA GIM) on a secondary data analysis project using California Administrative Data. This project sought to define patient’s healthcare utilization after a diagnosis with symptomatic cholelithiasis, and understand differences in this utilization based on patient race/ethnicity and insurance status. She presented the proposal for this work at UCLA General Surgery Grand Rounds in 2020.   

Her main project from this analysis is titled “Delays in Care for Patients with Symptomatic Cholelithiasis: Differences by Race/Ethnicity and Insurance,” and was accepted for an oral presentation the 2021 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. The manuscript was invited for expedited review at the Journal of American College of Surgeons. Her secondary project is titled: “Identifying Vulnerable Populations with Symptomatic Cholelithiasis at Risk for Increased Healthcare Utilization.”  

As a Veterans Affairs (VA) scholar, Dr. Shenoy participated in the Veteran Affairs Evidence Synthesis Program (VAESP), specifically examining Robot-Assisted Procedures in General Surgery. She led a systematic review comparing robot-assisted to laparoscopic cholecystectomy which was published in Systematic Reviews in 2021. She participated in other systematic reviews examining the use of the robotic platform for inguinal and ventral hernias, and esophagectomy. She also collaborated with the Portland, OR VA group to use VA data (VASQIP) to compare robot-assisted cholecystectomy, inguinal and ventral hernia repairs to traditional approaches (manuscript currently in progress).    

During her time at NCSP, Dr. Shenoy also consulted for a randomized controlled trial studying an implementation to reduce unwarranted postoperative opioid prescribing run by Dr. Kate Watkins (Rand) funded by a RO1 National Institute on Drug Abuse grant. To inform this RCT, Dr. Shenoy conducted an interrupted time series analysis using retrospective data studying the impact of the California Controlled Utilization Review and Evaluation System on postoperative opioid prescribing at Sutter Health. She presented her findings at the 2020 NCSP Annual Meeting, and UCLA General Surgery Grand Rounds in 2021 and developed a manuscript titled: “Can Legislation Change Postoperative Prescribing? The Story of the CURES Mandate.”  

Other projects that Dr. Shenoy led included: 1) “The Effect of the COVID-19 Stay-At-Home Order on Acute Care Surgery Presentations,” an assessment using retrospective data of the impact of COVID-19 on severity of patient presentations for four common acute care general surgery diagnoses (oral presentation at the Academic Surgical Congress, 2021), with mentors Dr. Catherine Juillard (UCLA) and Dr. Rochelle Dicker (UCLA); 2) “Onlay technique in Ventral Hernia: Are Superior Results Possible?” a retrospective data analysis of a single-surgeon’s experience with ventral hernia repair (poster presentation at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, 2020), with mentor Dr. Charles Chandler (UCLA).  

After NCSP, Dr. Shenoy returned to the UCLA General Surgery Department to complete her general surgery residency. Upon graduating from residency, she hopes to continue her career as an academic surgeon and plans to expand her research on the standardization of surgical treatment processes in order to reduce disparities in care.