Hop Tran Cao, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery
Director, Alumni Relations
Department of Surgical Oncology

Dr. Tran Cao is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He specializes in the management of hepatopancreatobiliary and neuroendocrine tumors and is an expert in the judicious and safe application of minimally invasive techniques in their surgical management.

His research focuses on quality of cancer care, and on the precision with which it is delivered. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, editorials, and book chapters examining treatment outcomes for HPB cancers, minimally invasive surgery, and the use of fluorescence guided surgery in oncology.

Dr. Tran Cao chairs the MIS Training Taskforce for the Division of Surgery. He is also the director of the MIS Training Committee in the Department of Surgical Oncology, a role in which he stewarded the development of a robotic training curriculum incorporating the use of biotissues and virtual simulation. His passion for education and dedication to mentorship extends to research training, where his leadership of the HPB Fellows Research Consortium earned him the Faculty Research Education Teacher Award.

Dr. Tran Cao completed his General Surgery residency at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and his fellowship in Complex General Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson. He resides in Houston with his wife, Dr. Carol Tran Cao (OB-GYN), and their three children.

Merrick I. Ross, MD
Professor, Department of Surgical Oncology
North American Surgical Oncology Group President (NASOG)

Merrick I. Ross, M.D., F.A.C.S., is a Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Melanoma Section in addition to proudly holding the honor of being the Charles M. McBride Distinguished Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgical Oncology, Division of Surgery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Ross received his medical degree from the University of Illinois, School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and completed a general surgical residency at the University of Illinois Affiliated Hospitals. Additional postdoctoral training includes a Research Fellowship at the Scripps Clinic and Research Institute, in La Jolla, California, as well as a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Ross is the principal investigator for numerous ongoing clinical trials. These trials include studies on interferon alfa-2b and vaccines in resected high-risk primary and regionally metastatic melanoma, intraoperative lymphatic mapping to identify the sentinel lymph node in patients with melanoma and breast cancer, hyperthermic regional limb perfusion with melphalan in patients with satellite and/or intransit metastatic melanoma of the extremity.

A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Ross is a member of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group for Clinical Trials for melanoma and breast cancer, a member of the Research Steering Committee of the United States Intergroup Melanoma Trials Organization and a member of the Melanoma Research Program Section of the World Health Organization (WHO). He is also an active member of various local, national and international medical organizations.

A frequent contributor to the medical press, Dr. Ross has published an impressive number of articles, book chapters, and abstracts. His most recent publication contributions include chapters in Cutaneous Melanoma and articles on sentinel lymph node biopsy in melanoma published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Surgery, Annals of Surgery and the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Matthew HG Katz, MD
Chair, Department of Surgical Oncology

Dr. Matthew H.G. Katz is currently a Professor and Chair of the department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has extensive experience in the design and conduct of clinical trials and has led two national cooperative group studies of the effects of preoperative therapy on patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. He has published over 250 original articles that have described novel multi modality treatment approaches for patients with this disease. He is past Chair of the ACS Cancer Research Program Cancer Care Standards Development Program and the current chair of the ACS-Cancer Surgery Standards Program.

Planning Committee

Cynthia A. Scott
Office Manager/Event Planner
Department of Surgical Oncology

Katherine Tyler
Coordinator of Publications
Department of Surgical Oncology