Dr. Mekel is a board-certified general surgeon who graduated from medical school with the Magna Cum Laude distinction at Universidad Central de Venezuela. He then moved to the USA where he started his general surgery residency training at Drexel University College of Medicine / Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA and then completed it at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. In addition, he served in the Graduate Medical Education Committee as well as the Surgery Residency Program Evaluation Committee. Dr. Mekel then continued his fellowship training in Minimally Invasive, Bariatric and Foregut Surgery at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA. Currently he is a member of the Abrazo Health Credentials Committee and he is a Residency Faculty member at HonorHealth. Dr. Mekel has authored numerous papers and performs a wide variety of open, laparoscopic and robotic procedures. Dr. Mekel is fluent in Spanish.​