Gastrointestinal Cancer Unit

About our Team

Cancers We Treat

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One of the primary benefits of an academic medical center is the team approach to clinical care. The gastrointestinal cancer team at Moores UCSD Cancer Center includes gastroenterologists, medical oncologists and GI surgery experts who have specialized expertise and experience treating cancers of the digestive tract. Their concentrated focus provides you with the latest and most comprehensive information and advances in the field. Our multidisciplinary team works together on your case. They compare notes, confer regularly with one another and review your progress. It’s like having a built-in second opinion. And a third and a fourth.

	Michael Bouvet, M.D. , Surgical Oncology Dr. Michael Bouvet specializes in surgical oncology and endocrine surgery. He performs surgeries for tumors of the pancreas, thyroid, liver, esophagus, and stomach, as well as for other conditions. He has performed many whipple procedures for pancreatic cancer. In his recent medical publications, he has reported on new techniques for imaging pancreatic cancer and for understanding its causes and the factors that influence its growth.
	John Carethers, M.D. , Gastroenterology
	Marquis Hart, M.D. , Gastroenterology Dr. Hart has over 20 years experience in advanced liver and kidney surgery. He has a special interest in the treatment of liver cancer.
	Paul Fanta, M.D. , Medical Oncology
	Santiago Horgan, M.D. , Esophageal Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery
	Ajai Khanna, M.D., Abdominal Organ Transplantation Dr. Khanna is currently involved in studying liver regeneration following laparoscopic liver resections. Dr Khanna's clinical practice focuses on surgical management of hepatobilary malignancies, with special expertise in the role of liver transplantation for liver tumors. Dr. Khanna also performs live donor liver transplants for patients with operable liver cancers.
	Andrew M. Lowy, M.D., F.A.C.S. , Surgical Oncology, Minimally Invasive Surgery Dr. Lowy is a surgical oncologist with a primary interest in cancers of the pancreas, liver and GI tract. He has a specialty interest in the management of patients with metastatic disease to the liver and peritoneum. Dr. Lowy performs heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), a procedure unique to only a few top cancer centers in the United States.
	Sonia Ramamoorthy, M.D. , Colorectal Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery Dr. Ramamoorthy performs open and minimally invasive colorectal surgeries as well as all standard general surgery procedures. She has advanced training in colon and rectal surgery and has special certification in minimally invasive surgical techniques to treat cancers as well as other conditions in the colon, rectum, and anus. Dr. Ramamoorthy is part of the Translational Oncology Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, where her ongoing research focuses on developing techniques for determining a patient’s risk of cancer recurrence after surgery for early rectal cancer.
	Tony Reid, M.D., Ph.D. , Medical Oncology Dr. Tony Reid’s broad career goal is to develop new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer, primarily gastrointestinal malignancies including colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer and hepatobillary cancer. He has been at the forefront of using interventional radiology to selectively deliver therapeutics directly to the tumor using the tumor's own vascular supply. Dr. Reid leads the Clinical Research unit at UCSD and has pioneered the use of gene therapy and viral vectors to selectively kill tumor cells and enhance the immune response to the cancer.
	Thomas John Savides, M.D. , Gastroenterology Dr. Savides is a nationally recognized expert in endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and therapeutic endoscopy (ERCP, double ballon enteroscopy). He founded and is the director of the UCSD EUS program, which is now one of the premier programs in the United States for diagnosis and staging of GI, pancreatic, and lung cancer. He is a community referral specialist for advanced pancreatico-biliary endoscopic procedures (ERCP), GI oncology, Barrett's esophagus, GI bleeding, and difficult polyp removal.
	Claude Sirlin, M.D. , Diagnostic Imaging Dr. Sirlin is Head of the Liver Imaging Research Group, which was formed to develop new techniques (pulse sequences, protocols, and post-processing methods) for liver imaging. The Group actively collaborates with hepatologists, liver surgeons, pathologists, and biostatisticians in the study of liver cancer and diffuse liver disease (fibrosis, fat, and inflammation).  They have developed a non-invasive procedure that can detect the smallest of liver tumors.
	Mark Talamini, M.D. , Surgical Oncology, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Colorectal Surgery Dr. Mark A. Talamini, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery, is a pioneer in minimally invasive abdominal surgery. He has an active oncologic surgical practice focusing on colorectal, pancreatic, and gastric surgery.
	Catheryn M. Yashar, M.D. , Radiation Oncology Catheryn Yashar M.D. is the Chief of the GI Tumor Service in the Department of Radiation Oncology. She has considerable expertise in a wide variety of radiotherapy techniques used in GI cancer patients, including 3DCRT and IMRT.