- Adrenal gland disease
- Adrenal gland tumor
- Goiter
- Graves' disease
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Hyperthyroidism
- Lymph nodes in the neck
- Parathyroid cancer
- Thyroid cancer
- Thyroid nodule
- Adrenalectomy
- Thyroid biopsy
- Thyroidectomy
Heather Wachtel, MD, FACS
Endocrine and Oncologic Surgery
Accepting new patients
Sees patients age 18 and up
Penn Endocrine and Oncologic Surgery Perelman 3rd Floor
Penn Medicine Provider
About me
- Chief, Section of Endocrine Surgery
- Co-Director, Endocrine Disease Team
- Associate Program Director, Penn General Surgery Residency Program
- Physician Liason, Abramson Cancer Center
- Fellow, American College of Surgeons
- Associate Professor of Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Wachtel’s clinical practice specializes in thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal surgery. Dr. Wachtel is a board-certified surgeon and the co-Director of the Endocrine Disease Team of the Penn Medicine Abramson Cancer Center. She is one of the only providers in the region offering retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy, which is a minimally invasive adrenalectomy from a retroperitoneal approach. Dr. Wachtel also performs minimally invasive transabdominal adrenalectomy using robotic and laparoscopic techniques.
My education and training
- Medical School: Yale University School of Medicine
- Residency: University of Pennsylvania Health System
- Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Spoken languages
English
English
Reviews
578 reviews
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Insurance accepted
Please contact the practice and/or the member services department of your insurance company for specific details before receiving services. Providers may participate in some, but not all, products offered by a health plan; providers may also accept plans at some practice locations but not others.
- Aetna Advantra Cares D-SNP
- Aetna Advantra Credit Value
- Aetna Advantra Eagle HMO
- Aetna Advantra Eagle POS
- Aetna Advantra Premier Plus PPO
- Aetna Advantra Value
- Aetna Advantra Value Plus
- Aetna APCN Plus (Multi-Tier)
- Aetna Better Health Kids (CHIP) - DH Only
- Aetna Flexible Five
- Aetna Freedom Core
- Aetna Gold
- Aetna HMO
- Aetna Philly Prime
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO APCN
- Aetna Premier
- Aetna Premier Plus
- Aetna Savings Plus
- Aetna Signature Administrators
- Aetna Student Health Plan PPO
- Aetna Upfront Advantage
- First Health HMO
- First Health POS
- First Health PPO
- Meritain - Aramark (Other)
- Meritain - Aramark (Pennsylvania Premier Medical Plan)
- Centivo EPO
- Cigna Healthcare EPO
- Cigna Healthcare HMO
- Cigna Healthcare POS
- Cigna Healthcare PPO
- Claim Watcher (Homestead/ INDECs) Open Access
- Clover Health Choice
- Clover Health Choice Value PPO
- Clover Health Classic HMO
- Clover Health Value
- Devoted Health Choice Giveback Pennsylvania (PPO)
- Devoted Health Choice Pennsylvania (PPO)
- Devoted Health Choice Plus Pennsylvania (PPO)
- Devoted Health Core Pennsylvania (HMO)
- Devoted Health Dual Plus Pennsylvania (HMO D-SNP)
- Devoted Health Giveback Pennsylvania (HMO)
Locations
Penn Medicine hospital privileges
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
- Penn Presbyterian Medical Center: Has privileges to treat patients in the hospital.
Qualifications and experience
- Surgery, 2016
- American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, National
- American College of Surgeons, National
- American Medical Association, National
- Association for Academic Surgery, National
- Association of Program Directors in Surgery, National
- Association of Women Surgeons, International
- International Association of Endocrine Surgeons, International
- North American Tumor Society, International
- Society of Asian Academic Surgeons, International
- Society of Clinical Surgery, National
- Society of Surgical Oncology, National
- Society of University Surgeons, National
- Penn Center for Head and Neck Cancer
- Penn Neuroendocrine Tumor Program
- Penn Thyroid and Parathyroid Cancer Program
Treatments and conditions
Research
Publications
Acker RC, Sharpe J, Williams S, Landau S, Rowe J, Fraker D, Karakousis GC, Wachtel H, Kelz RR. ASO Visual Abstract: Comparing Resident Team Performance in Complex Surgical Oncology: A Single-Institution Cohort Study , Ann Surg Oncol: 2026
Acker RC, Sharpe J, Williams S, Landau S, Rowe J, Lee MK, Wachtel H, Kelz RR. Patient Outcome Reports for Senior Residents: An Opportunity to Foster Reflection and Identify Outliers for Intervention , J Surg Educ, 83: 2026,104012
Acker RC, Sharpe JE, Williams S, Landau SI, Rowe J, Fraker D, Karakousis GC, Wachtel H, Kelz RR. Comparing Resident Team Performance in Complex Surgical Oncology: A Single-Institution Cohort Study , Ann Surg Oncol: 2026
Pregnall AM, Hornick MM, Broach RB, Judy R, DePaolo J, Yuan S, Levin MG, Fischer JP, Damrauer SM, Wachtel H. Genetic Susceptibility to Incisional Hernia Evaluation of Hernia Polygenic Risk Scores , medRxiv: 2026
Passman JE, Hwang J, Epps M, Tang J, Chambers C, Peifer M, Flood JJ, Wachtel H, Cook T, Kelz RR, Ebert JP, Fagen EM, Delgado MK, Herman DS. Non-interruptive decision support to increase appropriate screening for primary hyperparathyroidism , Am J Surg: 2026
Owei L, Priem E, Passman JE, Zafar H, Jones LP, Nazarian M, Cohen DL, White CA, Kharlip J, Wachtel H. From detection to diagnosis: Early outcomes of a specialized adrenal nodule clinic , Surgery, 196: 2026,110306
Pregnall AM, Yuan S, Lawrence JM, Abramowitz SA, DePaolo J, Judy R, Shakt G, Levin MG, Damrauer SM, Wachtel H. Decoding the genetic architecture of hernia through genome-wide association and multi-trait analyses , medRxiv: 2026
Blinder AR, Sapiro D, Baker JE, Qin Z, Bancos I, Lyden ML, Young WF, Wachtel H, Cohen DL, Kürzinger L, Fassnacht M, Luther JM, Williams TA, Reincke M, Turcu AF, Else T, Giordano TJ, Udager AM, Rainey WE, Nanba K. Adrenal histologic and genetic characteristics of primary aldosteronism in late adulthood , Eur J Endocrinol, 194: 2026,208-216
Pregnall AM, Wubbenhorst B, D'Andrea K, Pluta J, Amjad W, Shilan J, Cohen DL, Weathers B, Bennett B, Bonanni M, Montone K, Nathanson KL, Wachtel H. Metastatic progression of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma occurs via parallel evolution , NPJ Precis Oncol, 10: 2026,101
Acker RC, Hwang J, Williams S, Wachtel H, Fraker D, Weissman GE, Reddy Y, Kelz RR. Pill Burden: A Quality-of-Life Measure After Parathyroidectomy for Secondary Hyperparathyroidism , Ann Surg Open, 7: 2026,e644