At MSK, I am honored to hold the Enid A. Haupt Chair in Surgery and serve as the Vice-Chair of Education in the Department of Surgery. I have also been elected as the president of the medical staff, where I co-chair the Hospital Quality Assurance Committee and chair our medical staff advisory council. I am Program Director for two prestigious training fellowships in Surgical Oncology and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery. Externally, I am Vice Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) panel on Clinical Practice Guidelines in Hepatobiliary Cancers. For years, I have worked closely with the NCCN to help shape and write these treatment guidelines that are today followed in the United States and much of the world.
I have continued to be an active researcher, and since 1996, I have published more than 450 peer-reviewed journal articles. I am currently leading national prospective clinical trials that address important issues in our field.
I am and have been an invited member of the editorial board for many academic journals, including Annals of Surgery, Surgery, Annals of Surgical Oncology, the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery, Digestive Surgery, and Hepatic Oncology. I am currently an associate editor of the HPB journal. I also have served as a reviewer for dozens of other specialty journals. In addition, I am an active member of many medical societies, in which I’ve held many leadership positions, including president of the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA). I have had the great honor of lecturing both nationally and internationally at more than 250 institutions and conferences for these and other organizations worldwide. In collaboration with MSK colleagues, I have been an editor on Surgical Management of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disorders and many editions of Blumgart’s Surgery of the Liver, Biliary Tract, and Pancreas.
I became a cancer surgeon in part because I find cancer a complicated and fascinating disease, but also because surgery is an exciting — and constantly evolving — treatment tool. Now, nearly two decades into my career, I find that what I value most are the relationships I have with my patients — working with them, often for many years, to find the best way to fight their disease with their particular needs and lifestyle in mind. Outside of work, I am a self-proclaimed family man and spend my free time with my wife and children.
