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The clinical service includes three fellowship trained surgical oncologists, 4 surgical house officers, 2-3 medical students and 2 research nurses comprise the clinical service. Dr Edward Levine, Chief of the service, Dr. Perry Shen and Dr. John Stewart serve are the clinical faculty. Dr. G.L. Prasad coordinates a basic science lab. Annually, the three surgical oncologists perform over 1000 major operative procedures and see approximately 7,000 outpatients in their new clinic in the cancer center building.
Edward Levine, MD
Perry Shen, MD
John Stewart, MD
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House staff of the service are extensively involved in multimodality consultations for the care of cancer patients with melanoma, sarcoma, malignancies of the breast, and soft tissues as well as the full spectrum of gastrointestinal malignancy from esophagus to anus. In addition to operative management this includes pre- and post-operative care. Considerable clinical expertise is available to serve patients who require cancer staging, treatment and follow-up due to primary, recurrent or metastatic malignancies. In addition to providing resection of primary lesions, a substantial portion of clinical effort is devoted to the resection of metastatic disease, including that to the liver, lung, peritoneum, and lymph nodes. Extensive clinical experience in a tertiary referral setting provides the surgical know-how for dealing with rare and unusual neoplasms. A weekly multidisciplinary/multimodality surgical oncology conference, which serves as the “Tumor Board” for the institution, meets on Fridays at noon.
The Surgical Oncology Service actively supports clinical trials. Clinical trials in association with the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) and the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG), are coordinated by Dr. Levine who serves as their principal investigator. Surgical Oncology also collaborates with investigators in CALGB, RTOG, NCI(Surgery Branch), as well as other members of the Comprehensive Cancer Center including Public Health Sciences, Gastroenterology, Cancer Biology, Radiology, Medical and Radiation Oncology.
Currently the clinical and research faculty of the Surgical Oncology service has approximately one million dollars in active extramural funding for cancer research. There is ample opportunity for research by residents and medical students. Dr. Levine leads a team, which has been awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute to evaluate the use of PET imaging for the preoperative evaluation of patients with cancer of the esophagus. Innovative treatment with intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy for malignancies, which have spread throughout the peritoneal cavity (peritoneal carcinomatosis, peritoneal mesothelioma, peritoneal sarcomatosis and pseudomyxoma peritonei), is nationally recognized, and continues to draw patients from around the country. Translational projects evaluating genetic and proteomic changes associated with malignant melanoma, cancer of the breast, GI, and hepatobiliary malignancy as well as peritoneal carcinomatosis are ongoing. Dr. Shen has initiated clinical research projects evaluating innovative ways to treat primary and metastatic liver tumors. His effort has been expanded to support implantable hepatic arterial perfusion pumps in conjunction with novel ablative technologies. Dr. Stewart’s interests lie in clinical proteomics and delivery of cancer care to underserved populations.
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