New Surgeon Brings State-of-the-Art Technology To UMC for the Treatment of Cancer
October 02, 2008
Evan S. Ong, MD, MS, has joined The University of Arizona Department of Surgery as assistant professor of surgery in the Section of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Ong, who recently completed a fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., brings specialized surgical expertise on the latest technology to better treat patients with cancer.
Affiliated with the UA’s Arizona Cancer Center, Dr. Ong’s clinical practice primarily will focus on gastrointestinal, pancreatic or hepatic cancers with particular interest in treatment options for regional and metastatic disease. He will offer the latest, state-of-the-art technology, such as laparoscopic microwave and bipolar radiofrequency ablation to destroy primary liver tumors or hepatic metastasis minimally-invasively.
Additionally, he plans to perform Intraperitoneal Hyperthermic Chemoperfusion (IPHC), a procedure in which a warmed solution containing anti-cancer drugs is infused and circulated in the abdominal cavity for a short period of time. IPHC is a treatment option for those patients with cancers that have disseminated intraperitoneal (small metastatic nodules) disease.
Dr. Ong graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1999 and completed his general surgery residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). During his surgical residency, Dr. Ong spent an additional two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at UIC studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammation.
A member of the Society of Surgical Oncology, Dr. Ong has more than 20 publications, including two book chapters. His research includes studying the effect of immune modulation and aging on the development and progression of gastrointestinal cancers. Through his co-appointment with the Arizona Center on Aging, Dr. Ong is developing a geriatric assessment scoring system to better predict surgical outcomes in the elderly patient.
“The appointment of Dr. Ong represents our commitment to providing comprehensive, cutting-edge treatments and procedures that will benefit our patients in Southern Arizona,” said Rainer Gruessner, MD, UA Department of Surgery chairman.