From
Dr. Marc Levitt
Tell Me a Story: Pediatric Surgeons Putting Colorectal Center on the Map
With Dr. Alberto Peña
Educational content from recorded physician discussions — not medical advice. Talk to your (or your child's) care team about your situation.
Video
Radiology and Image Diagnosis of Hirschsprung Disease
44 min · Published Nov 2018
Video
Outcomes and Complications in Hirschsprung Disease
105 min · Published Nov 2018
Video
Surgical Procedures for Hirschsprung Disease
128 min · Published Nov 2018
Video
Cloaca - Prental Imaging & Diagnosis - Counseling
Dr. Todd Ponsky · 36 min · Published Nov 2018
Podcast
Cloacal Exstrophy with Dr. Alberto Peña
53 min · Published Apr 2017
Video
Hirschsprung Disease: Surgical Procedures
128 min · Published Feb 2015
Video
Colorectal Quiz Ep. 50 -16th Annual European Pediatric Colorectal & Pelvic Reconstruction Conference
Marc Levitt · Published Mar 2026
Video
Colorectal Quiz Episode 33: Cloaca Exstrophy
Marc Levitt · 22 min · Published Sep 2025
Video
The Colorectal Quiz Episode 21: The History of Hirschsprung Disease
Marc Levitt · 15 min · Published Sep 2025
Video
Colorectal Quiz: Episode 49 – Collaborating for Kids: Colorectal & Pelvic Care (with Help from AI)
Marc Levitt · 40 min · Published Jul 2025
Podcast
Colorectal Quiz: Episode 49 - Collaborating for Kids: Colorectal & Pelvic Solutions (with a Little Help from AI)
Marc Levitt · 40 min · Published Jul 2025
Podcast
Colorectal Quiz: Episode 47
Marc Levitt · 22 min · Published May 2025
What the experts said
Dr. Alberto Peña is the director of the Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
Dr. Peña advises young surgeons asking for the key to success to focus on doing each operation—even a routine hernia—as the best in the world.
Dr. Peña's philosophy is to concentrate on what you do and leave the rest to the gods.
Dr. Peña developed a new operation in the 1970s that no one had thought about before.
In most institutions the operation is called the Pena procedure, but at Cincinnati Children's it is called the posterior sagittal anorectoplasty due to Dr. Peña's humility.
The posterior sagittal anorectoplasty put colorectal surgery and Dr. Peña's name on the map.
Over approximately 20 years, patients came to have the procedure and surgeons came to learn it.
The expansion of the colorectal center's scope to all other colorectal fields has occurred in the last 6 to 10 years.
The center's expansion came from hard work, dedication, passion about the patient, commitment to writing about results, careful patient follow-up, telling the world what they are doing, and having a vision of being able to do a better job than others.
The colorectal center has seen patients from 80 countries.