Accepting new patients

John T. Vetto, M.D., FACS, FASA

Accepting new patients

  • Professor of Surgery
  • Professor of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, School of Medicine
  • Professor of Dermatology, School of Medicine

Specialty

  • Cancer

Clinical focus

  • Breast Cancer
  • Melanoma
  • Sarcoma
  • Skin Cancers
  • Surgical Oncology

Locations and contact

I see patients at
Modern building on a clear day with the tram in the background.
Center for Health & Healing, Building 2
503-494-8311
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About me

Dr. Vetto is a soft tissue Surgical Oncologist specializing in melanoma, high risk skin cancer, breast cancer, and sarcomas. He founded the OHSU multidisciplinary breast cancer and clinical melanoma program and is a member of the OHSU multidisciplinary sarcoma team. Dr. Vetto has published extensively on these topics and performed clinical and basic research in cancer areas. He enjoys studying and learning about advances in cancer care so that he can relate that information to colleagues and patients with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes and relieving suffering from cancer.

Outside of work Dr. Vetto enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, travel, visiting with his and his wife's family in Spain and Italy, working out, and watching old movies.

Languages spoken

  • English

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 1978, Portland State University
    • M.D., 1982, Oregon Health & Science University

  • Residency

    • General Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 1982-1984
    • General Surgery, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1986-1989

  • Fellowship

    • Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 1984-1986
    • Surgical Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, 1989-1991

  • Certifications

    • American Board of Surgery, 1991; recertified 2000, 2009

Memberships and associations:

  • Alpha Omega Alpha (Alpha of Oregon)
  • Oregon Medical Association
  • Multnomah County Medical Society
  • Portland Surgical Society
  • Oregon Chapter, American College of Surgeons
  • North Pacific Surgical Association
  • Pacific Coast Surgical Association
  • Fellow, American College of Surgeons
  • American Head and Neck Society
  • Society of Surgical Oncology
  • Association of Academic Surgeons
  • Southwest Oncology Group
  • Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
  • American Association for Cancer Education
  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • Longmire Surgical Society
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • Western Surgical Association
  • Society for the immunotherapy of Cancer
  • Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration
  • Fellow, American Surgical Association
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Insurance

Before scheduling an appointment

  1. Check your network. If you have health insurance,  call your company to find out if the OHSU Health location or provider you plan to visit is part of your network.
  2. Ask what you will pay. Your insurance company can tell you what your costs are likely to be.

If you schedule an appointment and your health insurance does not include OHSU Health, you may have to pay more than if you go to a provider in your insurance network. 

Visit our billing and insurance page for more information.

Ratings and reviews

Overall: 4.9 out of 5 (253 Ratings, 80 Reviews)

The patient ratings score is an average of all responses to the question "How likely would you be to recommend this provider to your family and friends (on a scale of 0 to 10)" on our nationally-recognized NRC patient surveys.

  1. Explanation was very clear, procedure performed as expected

  2. Dr Vetto has been with me on my journey for over 4 years. Very encouraging !!

  3. Dr. Vetto and his staff are amazing. They are so friendly and easy to work with. Pam is great to work with on any issue and a great liaison between us and the doctor prior to our visit. We think Dr. Vetto is a top notch doctor and surgeon, which is why we continue to travel from Idaho to see him. We wish we had a great facility like OHSU where we live.

  4. I think he did a good job

  5. Very professional

  6. Friendly, upbeat, reassuring.

  7. He is very personable and thorough in his exam and review of test results

  8. Very nice and clinical

  9. All of my experiences with Dr. Vetto have been excellent. He is an exceptional surgeon and clinician. Dr. Vetto is kind, caring, respectful, proactive, pragmatic, and patient-focused.

  10. I feel I received the best care I could receive anywhere.

  11. Highly impressed with my whole experience.

  12. Caring, thorough and good listener

  13. Pleasant and able to get all nessasary work done in one day

  14. Excellent care and support

  15. Dr. Vetto was knowledgeable and compassionate. It didn't feel dismissive at all.

  16. Satisfied

  17. Clinician took the time to make us feel welcome in an otherwise troubling visit.

  18. Dr. John Vetto is my "OG Surgeon" & I'll be forever grateful to him for saving my life!!! His Surg-Onc nursing team is wonderful & ALWAYS takes such great care of me!!!Over the past 3+ years my body has gone thru some pretty scary & complicated scenarios, & because Dr. John Vetto knows how to explain things in his certain way, he always calms me down & tells me straight up how it is without scaring me.Dr. John Vetto is the Chair of the Tumor Board for the neck down of my body & continues to advocate for me & takes the time to follow my medical case.THANK~YOU!!!!

  19. Dr. Vetto was very friendly, knowledgeable and attentive .

  20. Every one was very friendly, helpful and informative

  21. Dr. Vetto did an excellent job in prepaing me for the surgery to come; then afterwards in post-surgery care. He allowed my wife, a retired ohysician, to report on the surgical sites and to also remove the stiches from the site on my arm. This saved us a trip from Bend to Portland and back.

  22. I needed better after care directions. More specific.

  23. I am very grateful for Dr. Vetto's care throughout. Our appointment to review my case was thorough, clear, and I felt confident I was in good hands. Start to finish, my procedures took place exactly as Dr. Vetto explained. I was fortunate that my surgery concluded with the better of two disease conditions he detailed, However, I had no doubts about the care I would receive in any outcome. My follow up appointments with Eric Milanese and post-op call from Dr. Vetto were appreciated and reassuring.

  24. Everyone was very professional and caring

  25. Very warm, efficient, attentive, excellent listener

  26. Felt very comfortable when my doctors they did a great job

  27. They are very friendly and care about patients.

  28. Dr Vetto can do no wrong in my eyes.

  29. Vey nice and very informed!

  30. Dr Vetto treats me like a person and not just a number to get through! I prefer his personal manner to what I am seeing generally in the treatment of patients today in medicine and I appreciate it. Dr Vetto conveys choices clearly and kindly