Professor
Department of Surgical Oncology and Endocrine Surgery, Mayo Clinic Arizona
Barbara A. Pockaj is a surgical oncologist and named Michael M. Eisenberg Professor at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Pockaj graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University with a double major in biomedical and electrical engineering. She went then went on to receive her MD degree from Vanderbilt University. She received her general surgery training at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She pursued further training in surgical oncology, immunotherapy, and tumor immunology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda Maryland. Dr. Pockaj has been a consultant at Mayo Clinic in Arizona for 24 years where she has a special interest in surgical oncology with a focus in breast cancer and melanoma. She is active in several areas of research both clinical and translational. She has authored over 180 manuscripts and over 200 abstracts in the field of surgical oncology. She has been named the investigator of the year for the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and has been awarded a lifetime Educator award by the residents. She currently leads the Breast Cancer Interest Group (BIG) at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, a group of clinicians and basic scientists focusing on translational research projects regarding breast cancer. She has functioned as the principle investigator both at an institutional and national level on several research projects. She is an active member of several organizations and has served in various leadership positions for the following organizations: Governor for the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, Southwest Surgical Congress, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, and the Sentinel Lymph Node Working Group.