Surgical Oncology

The primary mission of the Surgical Oncology Division is the commitment to excellence in research, education, and patient care. As one of the largest divisions of surgical oncology in the country each faculty member has chosen to specialize in surgical oncology and then further specialize in a small number of diseased states. This allows each faculty member to be a leader in those diseased based multidisciplinary teams and provide highly innovative, exceptional quality, and improvement in overall outcomes for all of our patients. Our highly collaborative faculty remains committed to providing mentorship and educating future clinicians in the optimal outcomes of oncology care.

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Surgical Oncology Division Faculty

Please click on a physician's name to view their information.

Robert C.G. Martin, II, M.D., Ph.D., Division Director Vice Chair for Research Sam and Lolita Weakley Endowed Chair
Nicolas Ajkay, MD, MBA	Michael E Egger, M.D., MPH
Mahsa Javid, MB, BChr, MA, DPhil, FRCS FRCSC	Kelly M. McMasters, M.D., Ph.D. Ben A. Reid Sr., M.D. Professor and Chair
Prejesh Philips, M.D.	Hiram C. Polk, Jr., M.D. Ben A. Reid Sr., M.D. Emeritus Professor
Charles R. Scoggins, MD, MBA Vice Chair for Operations and Finance	Gary C. Vitale, M.D.

Surgical Oncology Research

Leaders in Cancer Research

Basic and Translational Research

Surgical oncology faculty members are involved in significant basic science and translational laboratory research programs, supported by the National Institutes of Health and a variety of other funding agencies.

The types of cancer research conducted here include:

• Study the role of irreversible electroporation in the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer
• Study the role of naturally occurring chemopreventive agents in gastroesophageal cancer
• Study the role of alcohol-mediated hepatocellular cancer
• Development of a large prospective hepatico-pancreatico-biliary, gastric and esophageal, sarcoma, breast, endocrine (parathyroid, thyroid, adrenal), hepatic arterial, soft tissue ablation, and melanoma database
• Adenovirus-mediated oncolytic therapy
• Novel agents for sentinel lymph node biopsy
• Development of novel adenoviral vector gene therapy treatments for cancer
• Genetic studies of melanoma, breast, thyroid, GI, and lung cancers
• Innovative studies to explore how nipple aspirate fluid might hold the key to early breast cancer detection and to determine molecular markers of the best response to chemotherapy
• Studies of lymphangiogenesis in melanoma
• Studies to evaluate patient decision-making in breast, lung, and colorectal cancer
• Molecular staging of melanoma
• Investigation of oxidative stress in the progression of Barrett's esophagus to adenocarcinoma
• Nanoparticles and thyroid cancer
• The role of estrogen in thyroid cell proliferation
• The role of ethnic background in thyroid cancer
• Studies evaluating the impact of psychological and physiological stress on breast cancer
• Laboratory-based studies evaluating the impact of smoking on breast cancer development
• Collaborative work evaluating the impact of diet on estrogen metabolism in breast cancer
• Studies evaluating methods of tailoring therapy for breast cancer patients
• Studies evaluating accelerated partial breast radiation in breast cancer
• Optimization of digestive enzyme mixtures to achieve maximum recovery of islet cells during isolation from pancreases

Clinical Trials

The Division of Surgical Oncology has directed more than 75 clinical studies, involving more than 14,000 patients, including national multicenter cancer studies directed by members of the Division.