The Hirshberg Foundation is excited to announce Dr. Vikas Dudeja will be joining us at the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer to discuss the potential role the gut plays in pancreas cancers.
“We are just beginning to fully understand the complexities of the relationship between the microbiome and cancer,” said Dudeja. “Our lab, and other researchers across the nation, will continue to dig into these complexities in order to better understand how we can control and cure cancers.”
Dr. Dudeja currently serves as an Associate Professor as well as the Division Director of surgical oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Surgery.
Dr. Dudeja completed his bachelor of medicine and surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India. He also received his master of surgery from AIIMS in 2005. Dr. Dudeja spent the next 3 years doing research on the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer and developing novel therapies against this aggressive disease. Afterwards he received residency training in general surgery at the University of Minnesota from 2008-2013. Following his residency, Dr. Dudeja completed a complex general surgical oncology fellowship and hepato-pancreato-billiary fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2013-15. Dr. Dudeja is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
On the research front, Dr. Dudeja’s laboratory focuses on deciphering the biology of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer and the interaction of gut microbiome with anti-cancer immune response. Elucidation of the mechanism and determinants of tumor recurrence is another key area studied in his laboratory. His research efforts are funded by grants from National Institute of Health (NIH), Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and Society Grants. His work has been published in high impact journals like Gastroenterology, GUT, Clinical Cancer Research and Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He serves on the editorial board of Gastroenterology and routinely reviews manuscripts submitted to many journals including Pancreatology, eBiomedicine, Communication Biology, Annals of Surgical Oncology.
Dr. Dudeja’s clinical interests include taking care of patients with pancreatic cancer, pancreatic cyst, hepatobiliary malignancies including cholangiocarcinoma, kaltskin tumor, colorectal cancer liver metastases, and benign disease like bile duct injury and chronic pancreatitis.
The complex relationship between cancer and the microbiome is such an important piece of the puzzle and we are honored to have Dr. Dudeja present Understanding the Gut and Tumor Connection in Pancreatic Cancer.