An Interview with Dr. Yeo

Dr. Charles J. Yeo (Samuel D. Gross Professor and Chair of Surgery) was born in East Orange, NJ, and graduated from high school in Spring Valley, New York.  He graduated from Princeton University in 1975, summa cum laude with an A.B. degree in Biochemistry.  Dr. Yeo then graduated in 1979 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, receiving the Upjohn Achievement Award and being elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and Phi Beta Kappa.  Upon completing his internship and residency in General Surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, he pursued a Research Fellowship at the S.U.N.Y. Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. Dr. Yeo joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University as an Instructor and Assistant Chief of Service in the Department of Surgery in 1985, and rose to the rank of Professor in 1996. In 1997, he became a Professor in the Department of Oncology. Dr. Yeo directed the Pancreatic Cancer Interdisciplinary Working Group at Johns Hopkins, and served as the Surgical Clerkship Coordinator and Surgical Curriculum Consultant. In 2001, Dr. Yeo received the Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As of October 1, 2005, Dr. Yeo was named the Samuel D. Gross Professor and assumed the chairmanship of the Department of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Yeo’s primary interests and research have been in the fields of hepatopancreaticobiliary surgery—the evaluation of patients with pancreatic and related cancer, and the management of patients with unusual pancreatic neoplasms, as well as acute or chronic pancreatitis.

Dr. Yeo is the co-editor of the highly successful five-volume encyclopedic Shackelford’s Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, 5^th Edition, published in 2002, and the editor-in-chief of the 6^th edition, in 2007. He currently serves on the editorial boards of two journals Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery and Surgery, and he is the associate editor of Advances in Surgery and the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery.  He has authored over 375 peer reviewed scientific papers, numerous abstracts, and over 85 book chapters. Dr. Yeo travels nationally and internationally teaching and lecturing on the treatment of benign and malignant pancreaticdiseases. He has personally performed over 950 Whipple procedures, and has treated over 1300 patients with pancreatic and related cancers.

Dr. Hwyda Arafat (Associate Professor of Surgery)holds an MD and a PhD in cell biology and immunology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ and Ain Shams University (Cairo). Her laboratory currently researches different novel strategies for pancreatic cancer therapy. One project examines the role of Angiotensin II type 1 receptor in pancreatic cancer and its correlation with tumor angiogenesis and patient survival. Dr. Arafat has recently demonstrated that angiotensin II enhances tumor cell proliferation and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion via AT1R in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) cell lines in vitro. The goal of this project is to determine the clinical potential of AT1R as a novel molecular target for PDA treatment. Another project examines the mechanisms through which nicotine and cigarette smoking contribute to the aggressive nature of PDA. Dr. Arafat has demonstrated that nicotine induces the expression of a protein that increases the invasive capacity of PDA cells. This protein, osteopontin (OPN), is expressed in high amounts in the PDA tissue from smokers. The main goal of this project is to examine the potential of OPN as a novel molecular target and the efficacy of its blockade on PDA cell survival and metastatic potential. Dr. Arafat’s laboratory also examines the use of traditional herbal therapies in PDA treatment. Nigella sativa is a common Middle Eastern herb that is used for treatment of a broad array of diseases. Dr. Arafat has recently shown that an extract of this herb, thymoquinone (Tq), is able to induce programmed cell death in PDA cells and reduce the expression of different inflammatory molecules that might contribute to the malignant alterations in PDA cells. Interestingly, treatment of animals that carry PDA tumors with Tq resulted in tumor shrinkage. Dr. Arafat’s laboratory is currently investigating whether Tq is able to prevent or delay the occurrence of PDA tumors and the mechanisms involved. The ultimate goal of Dr. Arafat’s research is to identify novel targets to treat or prevent PDA growth, and ultimately to translate the findings into well designed clinical trials to improve patient survival.

Dr. Adam Berger (Assistant Professor of Surgery) received his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine.  While doing his residency in general surgery at the University of Maryland, he completed 2 years of cancer research at the NIH.  He then completed a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center.  He has special training in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers including esophageal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers. Dr. Berger’s research interests include molecular markers of prognosis and targeted therapies in esophageal, GE (gastroesophageal) junction, gastric, and pancreatic adenocarcinomas.  He served as the principal investigator on a recent, randomized trial exploring the optimal method to reconstruct the pancreas after the Whipple procedure

Dr.Jonathan Brody (Assistant Professor of Surgery) received his Ph.D. from the Department of Pathology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His thesis included cloning and defining a gene family linked to the process of tumorigenesis. Dr. Brody then took a post-doctoral position in oncology at Hopkins, training under the mentorship of a world expert in the genetics of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Scott Kern. With Dr. Kern, Dr. Brody has revolutionized a basic molecular biology technique, DNA electrophoresis, by developing low-molarity conductive media that is now being used worldwide to help speed the process-time behind genetic-based studies. He co-owns the patent on this invention and since arriving at Jefferson has achieved over 10 peer reviewed high quality publications and should have over 40 peer-reviewed publications by the end of this calendar year.  Further, Dr. Brody has participated in studies that helped link the previously described BRCA2 pathway in pancreatic cancer to other DNA repair pathway genes. Dr. Brody is now attempting to utilize the molecular understanding of pancreatic cancer to provide more rationale drug treatments. Presently these studies include optimizing the common chemotherapeutic gemcitabine and utilizing nanoparticles to deliver suicide genes to pancreatic cancer cells. The main goal of Dr. Brody’s laboratory is to understand the basic properties and defects of pancreatic cancer so we can translate this understanding to better targeted therapies.

Jennifer Brumbaugh received her BFA in Fine Arts from Penn State University in 1994. She subsequently studied painting and drawing at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and went on earn her MA in Medical and Biological Illustration at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1999. Her master’s thesis project focused on developing patient education materials for pancreatic cancer patients and their families. The project culminated in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Johns Hopkins Pancreas Cancer Website.  Upon graduating, Jennifer was hired by Ralph Hruban, MD, in the Department of Pathology, to continue working on the website and other communications projects.

In 2005, Jennifer joined the team at Jefferson. She currently develops the Department of Surgery’s websites and edits a bi-annual newsletter, Surgical Solutions. She is a co-investigator in the Jefferson Pancreas Tumor Registry (JPTR) study and has illustrated and co-authored of several publications.

Dr. Karen Chojnacki (Assistant Professor of Surgery) graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Her clinical and research interests include laparoscopic management of benign esophageal diseases and surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer and liver tumors. She completed an advanced laparoscopic fellowship at the University of Southern California. She currently serves as the Program Director for the General Surgery residency program.

Dr. Cataldo Doria (Associate Professor of Surgery) received his MD from the University of Perugia School of Medicine and his PhD in immunology from the University of Catania School of Medicine, both in Italy. He is the Director of the Division of Transplant Surgery at Jefferson. Dr. Doria is a multi-organ transplant surgeon with extensive expertise in cadaveric and living related liver and kidney transplant, pancreas transplant, small-bowel transplant as well as liver and pancreatic resection and surgery of the bile duct.

Dr. Adam Frank (Assistant Professor of Surgery) earned his MD at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1995, completed his abdominal transplantation fellowship training at that institution in 2004, and served as a clinical instructor there until 2005 when he started at Jefferson.  He focuses his surgical expertise on solid organ transplantation and is the surgical director of Jefferson’s pancreas transplant program.  Dr. Frank completed his surgical residency at Temple University Hospital and was a transplant fellow at the University of Maryland Medical Center in 2000 when that program led the country in the number of kidney transplants.  His clinical and research interests have focused on transplant therapies for diabetic patients, and he has extensive experience with human pancreatic islet transplantation. 

Lara Allan Goldstein is the Director of Development for Surgery.  A graduate of Syracuse University, she has been a member of the Jefferson team since 2003.  Prior to joining the Department of Surgery in November 2006, she served as the Director of Regional Giving for Alumni Relations and Development.  For information about supporting the Pancreatic Cancer and Related Diseases Program or to discuss the various gift options and arrangements, please contact Lara Allan Goldstein at 215-955-8797 or Lara.AllanGoldstein@jefferson.edu.    

Dr. Eugene P. Kennedy (Assistant Professor of Surgery) graduated from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar. He received his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia in 1996. He then received his general surgery training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he remained for a research fellowship in tumor immunology and a fellowship in Surgical Oncology. In 2004, Dr. Kennedy joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University as an Instructor and Assistant Chief of Service in the Department of Surgery. He subsequently joined the faculty at Thomas Jefferson University/Jefferson Medical College in 2006.

Dr. Kennedy has a special clinical interest in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.  His research focuses on the development of novel immune approaches in the treatment of pancreatic and related cancers. He is also working to develop clinical algorithms to improve patient quality of life after pancreatic surgery, and to implement critical pathways to speed patient recovery after complex cancer surgery.

Dr. Susan Lanza-Jacoby (Professor of Surgery) holds an MSc in Public Health from Columbia University and a PhD in Nutrition/Biochemistry from Rutgers University. Her laboratory is currently developing novel strategies to prevent and treat breast and pancreatic cancers. Dr. Lanza-Jacoby and her team are planning a long-term study with a newly developed mouse model of human pancreatic cancer to investigate the role of calorie restriction in the prevention of pancreatic cancer. She and her team are also seeking funding to investigate the use of Tarceva, an approved pancreatic cancer drug, in combination with Lipitor for prevention of pancreatic cancer. Not all patients respond to Tarceva; however, a review of the literature indicates that statin drugs are associated with reduced rates of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Lanza-Jacoby proposes to test whether the combination of these drugs is more effective in preventing the development of pancreatic tumors.

Dr Lavu specializes in the management of benign and malignant disease of the pancreas and liver.  He is Board Certified in Surgery and has a license to practice medicine with the California State Medical Board, the Indiana State Medical Board, the Pennsylvania State Medical Board, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons Candidate Group, American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, and the American Association for Cancer Research.

Dr. Bernadette Profeta  (Assistant Professor of Surgery) is an attending surgeon. She received her medical degree from Jefferson and did her general surgical internship and residency here too. She completed a laparoscopic surgery fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia. She joined the faculty in September 2005 and has a special expertise in advanced laparoscopic surgery.  She has a special commitment to surgical education, and has been instrumental in organizing the Department of Surgery Skills Laboratory, for the development of knot-tying, suturing and minimally invasive skills

Dr. Ernest (Gary) L. Rosato (Associate Professor of Surgery) is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Jefferson Medical College. He completed his surgical training at Thomas Jefferson University and joined the faculty in the Department of Surgery in 1997.  He is now Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of General Surgery. His clinical interests include gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, and oncology surgery. Dr. Rosato has published and presented research on the management of pancreatic, liver, and esophageal cancers.

Patricia Sauter received her BSN from the University of Maryland School of Nursing and her MSN from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. She is a certified acute care nurse practitioner and a licensed massage therapist. She participates in numerous research projects related to pancreatic and hepatobiliary disease and has been co-author on numerous papers on these topics. During her career she has been involved with the treatment of over 1500 patients with pancreatic and related cancer. Her clinical experience focuses on pain management, quality of life and terminal care for those with pancreatic and biliary cancer, and education concerning these disease processes and surgery.