Chief Surgical Officer, Professor and Head
Division of Surgical Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey - Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
I am a surgical oncologist, cancer researcher, and surgical educator at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and serve as the Chief Surgical Officer. My position at Rutgers is an opportunity to join an excellent organization and work with my new colleagues in the Gastrointestinal/Hepatobiliary Oncology Program. My surgical career started as a medical officer in the US Navy. After that I completed a fellowship in surgical oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. I subsequently joined the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) where I eventually served as Deputy Director in the Center for Cancer Research. At the NCI and at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, I led teams that developed internationally recognized clinical and research programs for patients with advanced primary, recurrent, or metastatic cancers.
My clinical and research efforts focus on the application of surgical resection for properly selected patients with recurrent or metastatic gastrointestinal cancers. I have a particular interest defining the role of surgical treatment in patients with peritoneal surface metastases from peritoneal mesothelioma, appendiceal cancer, colorectal cancer, and other tumors.
I am a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the Society of Surgical Oncology, and an honorary member of the Royal College of Surgeons (Glasgow). I have received numerous teaching awards and was the recipient of the National Institutes of Health Award of Merit in 2005. I have served on the Executive Committee, Training Committee, and as chair of the Research Committee for the Society of Surgical Oncology. Last year I will completed a term as chair of the board for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. I have published over 275 peer-reviewed articles and 50 book chapters and have lectured in 17 countries. I currently serve on the editorial board of the journal, Surgery.