GI and Hepatobiliary Malignancies Section
Surgery Branch
Mission
The mission of the GI and Hepatobiliary Malignancies Section Surgery Branch (GI/HPB) is to provide patients with GI and hepatobiliary cancers an opportunity to participate in clinical trials. We provide innovative and comprehensive surgical and medical solutions for complex metastatic and marginally resectable GI and HPB cancers. We are testing the use of new and experimental cancer therapies and examining the role of various surgical procedures. We have particular interests in primary liver cancers, liver metastases from various histologies, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, and peritoneal surface malignancies (carcinomatosis). The NIH Clinical Center is a state-of-the-art institution staffed with highly qualified physicians, fellows, nurses, social workers, dieticians, and technicians who provide excellent care to individuals participating in clinical trials. Patients who undergo surgical procedures at the NIH Clinical Center are given the option of participating in a clinical trial, which allows their tissue to be used for research in the NCI GI/HPB oncology laboratory. The mission of this laboratory is to conduct cutting-edge research, such as examining the function of cancer stem cells and exploring novel ways of delivering drugs, such as delivering siRNA in nanoparticles.
Overview
The Surgery Branch of NCI is conducting research to examine the role of surgery in the presence of metastatic disease and/or locally advanced unresectable cancers, assess the role of hyperthermic chemotherapy (HIPEC) in the treatment of carcinomatosis (multiple tumors throughout the abdomen), explore new ways of delivering chemotherapy directly to the organs where tumors are present (localized perfusion therapy), and evaluate targeted therapy and the use of small inhibitory RNA to target cancer cells or cancer stem cells.
Research Team
Udai Kammula, M.D.
Investigator
Tumor Immunology Section,
Surgery Branch, NCI
Dr. Kammula received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and his M.D. from the University of Maryland. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and fellowships in surgical oncology in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Kammula's research is focused on studies of tumor immunology and the development of effective immunotherapies for the treatment of patients with cancer. His clinical interests are in the management of malignancies of the liver, pancreas, and gastrointestinal tract.
Udo Rudloff, M.D., Ph.D.
Investigator
Gastrointestinal Oncology and Hepatobiliary Section,
Surgery Branch, NCI
Dr. Rudloff is an investigator and surgical oncologist at the Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Rudloff completed his M.D. at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. For his doctoral thesis at the German Cancer Research Institute, he worked on gene regulation of rRNA transcription. He graduated from New York University in 2007 upon completion of his surgical residency training and pursued subspeciality training in surgical oncology by completing a two-year surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Center in New York City. He was appointed to the senior staff of the Surgery Branch/NCI in July 2009.
Dr. Rudloff’s clinical interests lie in the management of complex cancers of the liver, biliary tree, and pancreas. His laboratory efforts focus on preclinical drug development for pancreatic cancer and other GI malignancies in vitro and in vivo models and the design of personalized treatment strategies for the individual genotype of patients’ tumors.
Prakash K. Pandalai, M.D.
Staff Clinician
Surgery Branch, NCI
Dr. Pandalai received his B.S. from the University of Michigan in 1997 and his M.D. from Wright State University School of Medicine in 2001. He completed general surgery residency at the University of Cincinnati in 2008 and a fellowship in surgical oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in 2010. His research interests include G protein-coupled signaling in GI and hepatobiliary malignancy, familial hereditary gastric cancer, and regional chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. His clinical interests include management of malignancies of the liver, pancrease, and gastrointestinal track, as well as soft tissue and retroperitoneal sarcoma.
Research Staff
Melissa Walker, R.N., B.S.N.
Research Nurse
Surgery Branch, NCI
Ms. Walker received her B.S.N. from Florida State University. Upon graduation, she completed an oncology nursing internship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, while working on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. She left NIH to work as an emergency room nurse in North Carolina and Georgia. She then returned to the NIH Clinical Center, where she worked as a staff nurse in the intensive care unit. In 2007, she began working as a research nurse specialist with the GI and Hepatobiliary Section of the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute.
Carole Webb, R.N., M.S.N.
Research Nurse
Surgery Branch, NCI
Ms. Webb received her B.S.N. from Western Connecticut State College and her M.S.N. from Marymount University. She served in the United States Air Force Nurse Corp for 5 years, specializing in critical care and trauma. She later worked in a civilian capacity as a critical care nurse at the United States Air Force Medical Center’s Wilford Hall Hospital on the Lackland AF in, San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Webb has served as a nurse consultant for the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Post Market Surveillance group, where she was responsible for reviewing and trending the use of critical care devices nationwide and participated in an analysis of the use of hemodynamic catheters, which lead to creation of practice standards. She has also worked as a research nurse at the NIH Clinical Center and is currently practicing as a clinical research nurse with the GI and Hepatobiliary Section of the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute.
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