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Carlos H. Chan, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Surgery - Surgical Oncology and Endocrine Surgery

Introduction

Dr. Carlos Chan is the first board-certified surgical oncologist in the State of Iowa with a primary clinical focus on pancreatic and advanced gastrointestinal cancers. He has built a HIPEC program at the UIHC and successfully treated many patients with peritoneal surface malignancies. In addition to his clinical expertise, Dr. Chan is also a basic and translational scientist and the Director of the BioMER core, which facilitates patient-oriented translational research at the University of Iowa.

Current Positions

  • Associate Professor of Surgery - Surgical Oncology and Endocrine Surgery
  • Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
  • Director-Biospecimen Procurement and Molecular Epidemiology Resource Core, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center

Education

  • BSc in Biochemistry & Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • PhD in Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • MD, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cancer Biology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • General Surgery Residency Program in General Surgery, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship in Complex Surgical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham & Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cancer Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Graduate Program Affiliations

Research Interests

  • Pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancers
  • Infection in cancer progression
  • Tumor immune microenvironment of the peritoneal cavity
  • Regional therapy for peritoneal surface malignancy
  • Cancer biomarker discovery and detection

Licenses & Certifications

  • Complex General Surgical Oncology Boards, American Board of Surgery
  • Medical License, Iowa Board of Medicine, Iowa
  • General Surgery Boards, American Board of Surgery
  • General Surgery License, Collège des médecins du Québec
  • General Surgery Boards (Canada), Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

Selected Publications

  • Bi J, Witt E, McGovern MK, Cafi AB, Swetha Tunuguntla SN, Cotoia AT, Raygoza Garay JA, Balk KR, Boge L, Hatfield S, Courtney R, Du J, Chan CHF, Huang Y, Voltarelli VA, Smith MG, Mailloux A, Bosch DE, Tift MS, Otterbein LE, Traverso G, Byrne JD. (2025). Potentiating the effect of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer using gas-entrapping materials. Biomaterials. 2025 Jan 8;317:123097. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2025.123097. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39799699.
  • Martin RCG 2nd, White RR, Bilimoria MM, Kluger MD, Iannitti DA, Polanco PM, Hammil CW, Cleary SP, Heithaus RE, Welling T, Chan CHF. (2024). Effectiveness and Safety of Irreversible Electroporation When Used for the Ablation of Stage 3 Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Initial Results from the DIRECT Registry Study. Cancers (Basel). 2024 Nov 21;16(23):3894. doi: 10.3390/cancers16233894. PMID: 39682087; PMCID: PMC11640091.
  • Dravillas CE, Coleman SS 4th, Hoyd R, Caryotakis G, Denko L, Chan CHF, Churchman ML, Denko N, Dodd RD, Eljilany I, Hardikar S, Husain M, Ikeguchi AP, Jin N, Ma Q, McCarter MD, Osman AEG, Robinson LA, Singer EA, Tinoco G, Ulrich CM, Zakharia Y, Spakowicz D, Tarhini AA, Tan AC; exORIEN Consortium. (2024). The Tumor Microbiome as a Predictor of Outcomes in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors. Cancer Res Commun. 2024 Aug 1;4(8):1978-1990. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-23-0170. PMID: 39015091; PMCID: PMC11307144.
  • Chang J, Suraju MO, Tran CG, Chan CHF, Ear PH, Howe JR, Sherman SK. (2024). Association Between Female Sex and Better Survival in Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors. J Surg Res. 2024 Oct;302:53-63. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2024.07.012. Epub 2024 Jul 30. PMID: 39083906; PMCID: PMC11490409.
  • Mohammed O. Suraju, Yutao Su, Jeremy Chang, Aditi Katwala, Apoorve Nayyar, Darren M. Gordon, Scott K. Sherman, Hisakazu Hoshi, James R. Howe, Carlos H.F. Chan, (2024). Impact of irreversible electroporation on survival among patients with borderline resectable/locally advanced pancreatic cancer: A single center experience, Surgical Oncology Insight, Volume 1, Issue 3, 2024, 100075, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soi.2024.100075.
  • Benej M, Hoyd R, Kreamer M, Wheeler CE, Grencewicz DJ, Choueiry F, Chan CHF, Zakharia Y, Ma Q, Dodd RD, Ulrich CM, Hardikar S, Churchman ML, Tarhini AA, Robinson LA, Singer EA, Ikeguchi AP, McCarter MD, Tinoco G, Husain M, Jin N, Tan AC, Osman AEG, Eljilany I, Riedlinger G, Schneider BP, Benejova K, Kery M, Papandreou I, Zhu J, Denko N, Spakowicz D; exORIEN Consortium.(2024). The Tumor Microbiome Reacts to Hypoxia and Can Influence Response to Radiation Treatment in Colorectal Cancer. Cancer Res Commun. 2024 Jul 1;4(7):1690-1701. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-23-0367. PMID: 38904265; PMCID: PMC11234499.
  • Wang C, Ma A, Li Y, McNutt ME, Zhang S, Zhu J, Hoyd R, Wheeler CE, Robinson LA, Chan CHF, Zakharia Y, Dodd RD, Ulrich CM, Hardikar S, Churchman ML, Tarhini AA, Singer EA, Ikeguchi AP, McCarter MD, Denko N, Tinoco G, Husain M, Jin N, Osman AEG, Eljilany I, Tan AC, Coleman SS, Denko L, Riedlinger G, Schneider BP, Spakowicz D, Ma Q; exORIEN Consortium. (2024). A Bioinformatics Tool for Identifying Intratumoral Microbes from the ORIEN Dataset. Cancer Res Commun. 2024 Feb 5;4(2):293-302. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-23-0213. PMID: 38259095; PMCID: PMC10840455.
  • Beyer GV, Hueser S, Li R, Manika D, Lee M, Chan CHF, Howe JR, Ear PH. (2024). Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma tumor spheroid drug screen reveals vulnerability to tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1 inhibitors. Surgery. 2024 Mar;175(3):605-612. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2023.08.044. Epub 2023 Oct 31. PMID: 37914572; PMCID: PMC10872605.
  • Chang J, Sherman SK, De Andrade JP, Hoshi H, Howe JR, Chan CHF. (2024). Role of Diagnostic Laparoscopy During Pancreatic Cancer Surgery in the Modern Era. J Surg Res. 2024 Apr 17;298:269-276. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2024.03.035. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38636183.
  • Brock P, Liynarachchi S, Nieminen TT, Chan C, Kohlmann W, Stout LA, Yao S, La Greca A, Jensen KE, Kolesar JM, Salhia B, Gulhati P, Hicks JK, Ringel MD. (2024). CHEK2 Founder Variants and Thyroid Cancer Risk. Thyroid. 2024 Feb 27. doi: 10.1089/thy.2023.0529. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38279823.