Born in South India (Andhra), but growing up in Flushing, Queens in New York, Dr. Gadepalli has found a home in Ann Arbor. He completed his undergraduate education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY and medical school at Albany Medical College in Albany, NY. His general surgical residency was at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, NJ. While in training, he obtained an MBA through the University of Phoenix Online program concentrating on Health Care Management. His educational accolades included Resident Teacher of the Year awards twice during residency, culminating in being a Finalist for the Resident Award for Exemplary Teaching, in 2007, given by the American College of Surgeons. He completed a Masters in Health and Health Care Research at the Institute for Health Policy and Innovation, in the North Campus Research Center.

At University of Michigan, Dr. Gadepalli completed fellowships in both Surgical Critical Care and Pediatric Surgery and is board certified in General Surgery, Critical Care and Pediatric Surgery. He is the Daniel H. Teitelbaum, MD Collegiate Professor in the Department of Surgery.

His clinical practice encompasses all aspects of pediatric surgery, including minimally invasive surgery, non-cardiac thoracic surgery, neonatal surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, surgical oncology, abdominal, colorectal and genitourinary abnormalities, trauma and critical care. His unique background allows expertise in the critical care needs of the surgical neonatal and pediatric populations, including the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in children.

On a personal note, he has 4 children, from elementary to high school, who keep him well grounded and up-to-date on all the newest trends. As a 90s kid, he enjoys hip hop music and dancing with his daughters and his son, who is working on becoming an Eagle Scout. He loves to play pick-up basketball and watch movies, such as StarWars, Harry Potter and the Avengers series.

Health services researcher in Pediatric Surgery, Neonatal Surgery, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Critical Care focused on health care delivery and improving disparities, health care financing and cost-effectiveness of surgical interventions, and improving outcomes through quality consortiums, evidence-based guidelines and policy.

Dr. Gadepalli is a pediatric surgeon and health services researcher with a focus in improving outcomes in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As the surgical director of the pediatric IBD program, he has the clinical background and developed standardized algorithms for the care of pediatric patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, both at the institutional and national level: intraabdominal strictures, pan-colitis,
perianal fistula disease. As a member of ImproveCareNow (ICN) Clinical Committee, Dr. Gadepalli represents the surgical voice in the care of children with IBD. He has a track record of working closely with families (as part of the NEC Society Scientific Advisory Council), of multicenter outcomes research (as the Chief Academic Officer for the Midwest Pediatric Surgery Consortium), and of conducting prospective
funded studies in translational, clinical outcomes, and health services research.

To better understand best practices and improve quality of care for various common pediatric surgical conditions, Dr. Gadepalli has helped create a research network of large academic children’s hospitals. The Midwest Pediatric Surgery Consortium (MWPSC.org) has helped determined the variability and surgical outcomes of several congenital gastrointestinal anomalies including esophageal atresia and gastroschisis to help
define better practices and develop common algorithms for management of these conditions. Furthermore, they've recently completed a prospective patient-choice study, funded by PCORI, on the nonoperative management of pediatric appendicitis. Using what was learned from the MWPSC and NEC Society, Dr. Gadepalli helped develop the first pediatric surgical network for inflammatory bowel disease, IBD-SETON (Improving IBD – from Surgical Evaluation to Outcomes through Networking), with about 10 centers within ImproveCareNow (ICN), an international
group of clinicians, researchers and families invested in the care of pediatric IBD. The group has held several panels to demonstrate the need to further study perioperative outcomes. We have discussed with the patient group within ICN about evaluating patient reported outcomes such as quality of life, burden of disease, and complications of surgery.

As the surgical representative to the ICN, and Director of Clinical Research in Pediatric Surgery for CS Mott Children’s Hospital, I worked closely with surgeons, gastroenterologists, patients and parents throughout the country in on developing evidence-based protocols to improve the quality of surgical care provided for pediatric IBD.

1. Inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, surgical lead for ICN)
a. Rubalcava NS, Gadepalli SK, Criss CN, Moreno NA, Adler J, Geiger JD. Single-stage restorative
proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis in pediatric patients: a safe alternative. Pediatr Surg Int. 2021 Oct;37(10):1453-1459. PubMed PMID: 34143272.
b. Rubalcava NS, Gadepalli SK. Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children and Adolescents. Adv Pediatr. 2021 Aug;68:121-142. PubMed PMID: 34243849.
c. Adler J, Lin CC, Gadepalli SK, Dombkowski KJ. Association Between Steroid-Sparing Therapy and the Risk of Perianal Fistulizing Complications Among Young Patients With Crohn Disease. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jun 1;3(6):e207378. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7284306.
d. Dedhia PH, White Y, Dillman JR, Adler J, Jarboe MD, Teitelbaum DH, Hirschl RB, Gadepalli SK. Reduced paraspinous muscle area is associated with post-colectomy complications in children with ulcerative colitis. J Pediatr Surg. 2018 Mar;53(3):477-482. PubMed PMID: 29103786.
2. Multi-center studies on pediatric surgical conditions (MWPSC, funded by PCORI)
a. Minneci PC, Hade EM, Metzger GA, Saito JM, Mak GZ, Deans KJ. Association of Initial Treatment With Antibiotics vs Surgery With Treatment Success and Disability in Subgroups of Children With Uncomplicated Appendicitis. JAMA. 2021 Jun 22;325(24):2502-2504. PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC8220457.
b. Kunisaki SM, Saito JM, Fallat ME, St Peter SD, Lal DR, Karmakar M, Deans KJ, Gadepalli SK, Hirschl RB, Minneci PC, Helmrath MA. Fetal Risk Stratification and Outcomes in Children with Prenatally Diagnosed Lung Malformations: Results from a Multi-Institutional Research
Collaborative. Ann Surg. 2020 Nov 17; PubMed PMID: 33214447.
c. Fraser JD, Deans KJ, Fallat ME, Helmrath MA, Kabre R, Leys CM, Burns RC, Corkum K, Dillon PA, Downard CD, Gadepalli SK, Grabowski JE, Hernandez E, Hirschl RB, Johnson KN, Kohler JE, Landman MP, Landisch RM, Lawrence AE, Mak GZ, Minneci PC, Rymeski B, Sato TT, Scannell
M, Slater BJ, Wilkinson KH, Wright TN, St Peter SD. Sutureless vs sutured abdominal wall closure for gastroschisis: Operative characteristics and early outcomes from the Midwest Pediatric Surgery Consortium. J Pediatr Surg. 2020 Nov;55(11):2284-2288. PubMed PMID: 32151403.
d. Minneci PC, Hade EM, Lawrence AE, Sebastião YV, Saito JM, Mak GZ, Fox C, Hirschl RB, Gadepalli S, Helmrath MA, Kohler JE, Leys CM, Sato TT, Lal DR, Landman MP, Kabre R, Fallat ME, Cooper JN, Deans KJ. Association of Nonoperative Management Using Antibiotic Therapy vs
Laparoscopic Appendectomy With Treatment Success and Disability Days in Children With Uncomplicated Appendicitis. JAMA. 2020 Aug 11;324(6):581-593. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7385674.
3. Family-led change to medical practice through engagement and empowerment (NEC Society, funded by PCORI, NICHD, CZI)
a. Gadepalli SK, Canvasser J, Good M, Raju TNK. Opportunities for the federal government to advance necrotizing enterocolitis research. Pediatr Res. 2020 Aug;88(Suppl 1):56-59. PubMed PMID: 32855514.
b. Carr BD, Gadepalli SK. Does Surgical Management Alter Outcome in Necrotizing Enterocolitis?. Clin Perinatol. 2019 Mar;46(1):89-100. PubMed PMID: 30771822.
c. Ralls MW, Gadepalli SK, Sylvester KG, Good M. Development of the necrotizing enterocolitis society registry and biorepository. Semin Pediatr Surg. 2018 Feb;27(1):25-28. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5744883.
d. Gadepalli SK, Canvasser J, Eskenazi Y, Quinn M, Kim JH, Gephart SM. Roles and Experiences of Parents in Necrotizing Enterocolitis: An International Survey of Parental Perspectives of Communication in the NICU. Adv Neonatal Care. 2017 Dec;17(6):489-498. PubMed PMID:
29166294.
4. Multidisciplinary quality improvement (postoperative opioid utilization, funded by BCBS)
a. Sloss KR, Vargas G, Brummett CM, Englesbe MJ, Waljee JF, Gadepalli S, Harbaugh C. Association of caregiver-reported education with locked storage and disposal of prescription opioids after children's surgery. J Pediatr Surg. 2020 Nov;55(11):2442-2447. PubMed PMID:
32507640.
b. Harbaugh CM, Vargas G, Sloss KR, Bohm LA, Cooper KA, Thatcher AL, Zopf DA, Chua KP, Waljee JF, Gadepalli SK. Association of Opioid Quantity and Caregiver Education with Pain Control after Pediatric Tonsillectomy. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 May;162(5):746-753. PubMed PMID: 32204656.
c. McGee LM, Kolli A, Harbaugh CM, Howard RA, Englesbe MJ, Brummett CM, Waljee JF, Gadepalli SK. Spillover Effect of Opioid Reduction Interventions From Adult to Pediatric Surgery. J Surg Res. 2020 May;249:18-24. PubMed PMID: 31918326.
d. Harbaugh CM, Vargas G, Streur CS, Li GY, Thatcher AL, Waljee JF, Gadepalli SK. Eliminating Unnecessary Opioid Exposure After Common Children's Surgeries. JAMA Surg. 2019 Dec 1;154(12):1154-1155. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6727673.