Dr. Tamir Keshen, MD, FACS, FAAP

Expert Publications

• The determinants of protein catabolism in neonates on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
• Validation of a [13C]bicarbonate tracer technique to measure neonatal energy expenditure.
• Ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus under fentanyl anesthesia improves protein metabolism in premature neonates.
• Do critically ill surgical neonates have increased energy expenditure?
• Energy expenditure in ill premature neonates.
• Assessment of cysteine synthesis in very low-birth weight neonates using a [13C6]glucose tracer.
• The use of human acellular dermis in the operative management of giant omphalocele.
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with hepatic and skeletal muscle insulin resistance in overweight adolescents.
• Stable isotopic quantitation of protein metabolism and energy expenditure in neonates on- and post-extracorporeal life support.

Media Releases

Get to know Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Tamir Keshen, who serves patients throughout the State of California.

An established pediatric surgeon, Dr. Keshen is an attending physician at Anacapa Surgical Associates in Ventura, California, and is the Founder of California Pediatric Surgical Group. He is widely renowned for his aptitude in surgical oncology and trauma, as well as advanced minimally invasive surgery for thoracic and abdominal diseases in newborns, infants, and children.

Anacapa Surgical Associates is dedicated to providing the best quality and comprehensive care for their patients. They partner with the Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC), a fully-integrated, comprehensive system of hospital, clinic and specialty services. As a team, they provide access to high quality, compassionate health care to residents throughout Ventura County. They also provide services at the Santa Paula Hospital, an acute, 49 bed, general community hospital providing compassionate care to Santa Clara Valley residents.

California Pediatric Surgical Group is dedicated to bringing the best in comprehensive surgical care to the children of the Central Coast, with state-of-the-art facilities in Santa Maria, Thousand Oaks, Santa Barbara, and two Ventura, California offices. The practice works with antenatally anticipated newborns, infants, toddlers, adolescents, and young adults. It specializes in treating newborns in need of major corrective surgery and children with solid tumors, in addition to more common conditions and procedures like umbilical hernia repair, laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair, pyloric stenosis, and appendicitis.

Academically, Dr. Keshen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, and earned his medical degree from New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. He then completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa. 

During his residency, he also completed a two-year, NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship in neonatal nutrition and metabolism at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Baylor College of Medicine, all in Houston, Texas. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Alabama at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama.

Holding a license to practice medicine in California, Missouri, and Alabama, the doctor is board-certified in pediatric surgery and general surgery by the the American Board of Surgery (ABS). The ABS is an independent, non-profit organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded for the purpose of certifying surgeons who have met a defined standard of education, training, and knowledge.

After finishing his postdoctoral training in 2002, Dr. Keshen served on the faculty at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, where he joined his wife, Dr. Roberta Sengelmann. He was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Surgery and the Director of Pediatric Minimally Invasive Surgery at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Maintaining fellowship status, he is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatricians (FAAP).

Published in a variety of reputable journals, Dr. Keshen is an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons Southern California Section, the American Medical Association, the Society of Laparo-endoscopic Surgeons, the International Pediatric Endoscopic Group, the Washington University Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery, the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons, and the American Pediatric Surgical Association.

Among his other roles, he serves as Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Director of Pediatric Minimally Invasive Surgery at Santa Barbara Cottage Children’s Hospital, maintains a private practice in Goleta, California, and has admitting privileges at Community Memorial Hospital, Marian Regional Medical Center, and St. Mary Medical Center.

Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. Pediatric surgeons are trained as general surgeons who then go on to get specialty training to perform surgery on children and neonates with various congenital and oncologic issues.

Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Keshen has been selected as one of the “Best Doctors in America®” and has been the recipient of the “America’s Top Surgeons” by the Consumer’s Research Council of America.

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