Surgical Oncology

Surgery is a vital part of care for many patients with cancer. It can help doctors diagnose and stage disease, treat it, relieve symptoms and prevent cancer from spreading or returning. The Surgical Oncology department at MD Anderson treats patients with a wide variety of malignant and benign tumors. The department comprises numerous specialty sections:

• Acute care general and palliative surgical oncology
• Colorectal surgery
• Endocrine surgery
• Gastric-HIPEC
• Hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery
• Melanoma surgery
• Pediatric surgery
• Sarcoma surgery

These sections provide assessments, treatment planning and surgical services to cancer patients to improve survival, shorten recovery times and minimize treatment-related side effects. Each section strives to better identify patients who can benefit from surgery, and to advance and implement new surgical techniques. In particular, they are broadening the use of minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic techniques to lessen the impact of surgery on patients.

Education 

Surgical Oncology has numerous exceptional fellowships. Its hallmark Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship is a two- to three-year program and hosts seven new fellows each year. It is directed by Elizabeth Grubbs, M.D., professor of Surgical Oncology, and has had 244 graduates since 1989. The HPB Surgery Fellowship is directed by  Ching-Wei Tzeng, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Oncology, and has had three graduates since 2013; the Surgical Endocrinology Fellowship is directed by Paul Graham, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Oncology, and has had eight graduates since 2009; and the new International Surgical Oncology Fellowship, directed by Brian Bednarski, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Oncology, has had one graduate since 2013.

The department also has a grant to train eight academic surgical oncologists each year in cancer research. Finally, it has surgery residents from six Houston programs rotate through its services each year and medical students who rotate through monthly.

Learn more about fellowships and training in Surgical Oncology.