News
St. Luke’s Weight Management Center in Allentown has expanded, adding Dr. T. Javier Birriel, MD, to its health care team.
T. Javier Birriel, MD
Birriel specializes in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, laparoscopic gastric bypass, revisional bariatric surgery, and foregut surgery, which addresses problems in the esophagus, stomach, and proximal small intestine.
A graduate of Ponce School of Medicine in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Birriel completed his general surgery training at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem. After his residency, he completed an Advanced Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, a world renowned bariatric surgery center. “Throughout my training, I was fortunate to have such great mentors,” Birriel said.
Birriel chose to specialize in bariatric surgery after seeing what it can do for people, including his sister. “Most people think it’s just weight-loss surgery, but it also can lessen the effects, and in some cases cure, metabolic diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” Birriel said. “It gives patients who are dealing with these debilitating diseases a second chance at life. It is a very gratifying profession to be a part of.”
Birriel is happy to join colleagues, Leonardo Claros, MD, Maher El Chaar, MD, and Sagar Mehta, MD, whom he met while completing his training.
Birriel is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and actively participates in bariatric and minimally invasive surgery research. He has presented on these topics at national meetings. In addition to advanced laparoscopic and bariatric surgery, he offers diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy.
His wife, Lillybeth Birriel, MD, is a family medicine physician in the St. Luke’s University Health Network. They make their home with their infant son in the Bethlehem area.
St. Luke’s Weight Management Center is located at 240 Cetronia Road, Suite 205 North. Appointments can be scheduled by calling 484-426-2600. New patients are welcome.
Media Contact:
Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated and nationally recognized network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites. The network’s service area includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 23 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital, the only one in the region. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first Medical School. Repeatedly, including 2017, St. Luke’s has earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation as well as 50 Top Cardiovascular program in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers in comparison to major teaching hospitals and other health systems.
