Luke M. Elms, MD

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Get to know General Surgeon Dr. Luke M. Elms, who serves patients in Orlando and Winter Garden, Florida.

Dr. Elms is a board-certified general surgeon who joined Orlando Health Medical Group in 2015, seeing patients out of the offices in Orlando and Winter Garden, Florida.

His practice focuses on using ERAS protocol principles, multimodal pain control, and minimally invasive techniques to achieve better postoperative pain control and limit or eliminate the need for narcotics. He performs surgery across all aspects of general surgery but has special interest in robotic surgery, hernia surgery, and abdominal wall reconstruction.

Among his many titles, Dr. Elms is Chair of the Pain Management Subcommittee, Physician Member of the Surgical Site Infection Committee, Physician Member of the Surgical Quality Committee, Physician Member of the Perioperative Governance Committee, and Physician Member of the Robotic Surgery Steering Committee. 

Also, he is an Advanced Hernia Surgeon for the Orlando Health Complex Hernia Center, Chair of the Surgery Operations Committee at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, and serves as teaching faculty to the general surgery residency program at Orlando Health.

Having grown up in Oklahoma, Dr. Elms earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Oklahoma City University before earning his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine where he was awarded The Oklahoma City Surgical Society Award. He then completed his residency in general surgery at Orlando Health, where he served as the administrative chief resident during his final year and was awarded the Academic Achievement Award.

During college and residency, Dr. Elms participated in numerous research projects and presentations. He co-authored a paper entitled: “Causes of Small Bowel Obstruction After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass: A Review of 2,395 Cases at a Single Institution that was published in the journal, Surgical Endoscopy.

Holding certification in robotic surgery, the doctor is also board-certified in general surgery by 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.

Among his professional affiliations, Dr. Elms is an active member of the American College of Surgeons, ACS Florida Chapter, and the Florida Medical Association. 

Specializing in minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery, his areas of research include multimodal pain control for surgical pain and hernia surgery.

General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland. A general surgeon performs a wide range of abdominal surgeries for many forms of intestinal and abdominal wall neoplasms, gallbladder disease, gastric and pancreatic disease. They follow the patient through critical care and surgical recovery all the way to outpatient care.

Dr. Elms attributes his success to having strong mentors and family support throughout his life. He is a songwriter, singer, and guitarist. His favorite professional publication is the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

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