EP 862 Everything You Need to Know About Pancreatic Cancer

Dr. Timothy Donahue is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology to facilitate his research program. Dr. Donahue is the Chief of Pancreatic Surgery and oversees the pancreatic diseases multi-disciplinary program at UCLA. It is one of the largest in the nation.

Dr. Donahue is a very busy pancreatic surgeon. He performs three to four pancreatic surgeries per week. He is genuinely interested in caring for patients with pancreatic cancer. His clinical research is focused on improving the care of patients with borderline resectable or locally advanced disease. Dr. Donahue is a strong advocate of prolonged preoperative chemo- or radiation therapy for this group of patients to optimally select for those who will benefit from a surgical resection. As a result of this approach, Dr. Donahue and his team have among the best reported survival rates reported in the world.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Donahue is the Principal Investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded research laboratory. His scientific research focuses on developing improved treatment strategies and earlier diagnostic markers for patients with pancreatic cancer. He collaborates closely with other scientists across the UCLA campus, including faculty in the Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division and California Nanosystems Institute. He is optimistic that therapy for pancreatic cancer will markedly improve during his career.

After graduating from college and medical school at Northwestern University, Dr. Donahue completed his surgical and research training at UCLA. He has been on the faculty and in his current role since 2009. He resides in the Pacific Palisades with his wife and three children.