• Leading-edge clinical programs, including Oregon’s only peritoneal surface malignancy program
• Research studies and national clinical trials that drive breakthrough cancer treatments
• Fellowship programs offering intensive connections with our faculty and the opportunity to work with Division of Abdominal Organ Transplantation faculty
• Expert faculty who lead clinical, training and research excellence and collaborate across disciplines to care for patients
• A high faculty and clinician retention rate and high scores on resident evaluations of surgeon mentorship
• Access to Vista Pavilion, a 14-story inpatient addition at OHSU Hospital that enhances coordination between cancer care specialists and expands capacity for complex care 

Neuroendocrine tumors treatment program 

Our experts are part of the Knight Cancer Institute’s specialized team to treat this rare form of cancer. 

Melanoma treatment program

We work with other OHSU departments to provide state-of-the-art treatment for melanoma and other skin cancers.  

Our research work includes studying:  

• How to use systemic methods and hepatic arterial infusion to deliver different types of chemotherapy in treating patients with liver-dominant and unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
• Molecular aspects of pancreatic cancer, including developing ways to target a pro-survival network in pancreatic cancer cells and personalizing therapy for pancreatic cancer patients
• New approaches to direct patients’ immune systems to recognize and destroy cancer cells, building on a previous discovery that high potassium concentrations in tumor tissue can prevent T cells from fighting cancer
• Reasons for the high rate of pancreatic cancer recurrence in the liver after pancreatic cancer removal surgery  

Our faculty are involved in these clinical trials:  

• Testing Pump Chemotherapy in Addition to Standard of Care Chemotherapy versus Standard of Care Chemotherapy Alone for Patients with Unresectable Colorectal Liver Metastases: The PUMP Trial
• Testing the Addition of Paclitaxel Administered into the Abdominal Cavity Combined with Chemotherapy for Patients with Gastric Cancer Spread to the Abdominal Cavity, STOPGAP II Trial 
• mFOLFIRINOX Followed by Hepatic Arterial Infusion of Floxuridine and Dexamethasone With Systemic mFOLFIRI for Unresectable Liver-dominant Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma 

Rodney F. Pommier, M.D., FACS, FSSO, has authored important research in surgical oncology, including studies finding that: 

• Removing the primary neuroendocrine tumor (NET) improves survival even in patients with inoperable liver metastases.
• Surgical exploration is highly effective at finding occult primary NETs.
• Lowering the debulking threshold for small bowel NET liver metastases and pancreatic NET liver metastases from 90% to 70% has equivalent survival.
• Octreotide does not prevent carcinoid crisis.
• The pathophysiology of carcinoid crisis is not due to sudden massive release of hormones from tumors, but is a form of distributive shock, best treated with vasopressors rather than octreotide.
• Peritoneal cytoreduction is beneficial for patients with small bowel NETs and carcinomatosis.