The John Wayne Cancer Institute (JWCI) at Saint John’s Health Center is pleased to announce the return of Anton J. Bilchik, MD, PhD, FACS, a highly respected and internationally recognized surgical oncologist. Dr. Bilchik, a former JWCI Surgical Oncology Fellow, started in the beginning of February as Chief of Medicine and Chief of the Gastrointestinal (GI) Research Program at JWCI.
“I am very encouraged by the changes I have seen in the past six months and see JWCI and Saint John’s as well positioned to continue the legacy that Donald L. Morton, MD, started,†Dr. Bilchik explained. “I regard Dr. Morton not only as a mentor and a friend, but as one of the greatest surgical oncologists in the world today.
His contributions have changed the face of cancer care in the 21st century, and I cherish the opportunity to work with him again. The recent return of Mark Faries, MD, from Yale University has already strengthened the translational research program at JWCI, and I am excited to join him in designing important clinical trials and ‘brainstorming’ about ways of transforming cancer into a curable or chronic illness rather than a terminal event.â€
Since it opened at Saint John’s in 1991, JWCI has built its reputation as a top-notch center for translational cancer research, particularly in melanoma and breast cancer. With Dr. Bilchik’s guidance, JWCI will expand its national and international presence in gastrointestinal cancer research. Dr. Bilchik is an excellent clinician, a skilled minimally invasive surgeon who has the diagnostic intuition essential for managing cancer patients with complex presentations and potentially advanced disease.
“Having Dr. Bilchik join us greatly improves both the services we are able to offer our patients and the scope of the research being done at JWCI,†said Lou Lazatin, President and CEO of Saint John’s and JWCI. “He has already done extensive work with our fellows to create new studies. His new appointments as Chief of Medicine and Chief of the GI Research Program build on the continued growth going on with our cancer programs right now.â€
Over the past year, Dr. Bilchik has resumed a daily mentorship role for JWCI fellows, first in the operating room and more recently in the academic aspects of the surgical oncology training program. His mentorship has already had an effect as two of JWCI’s surgical oncology fellows, Danielle Hari, MD, and Anna Leung, MD, won ASCO Merit Awards for their presentations at the ASCO GI Cancers Symposium, held in San Francisco January 19-21.
Only 20 young surgeons received awards, most from institutions larger than JWCI. Additionally, fellows under the mentorship of Dr. Bilchik recently presented their studies at the Southern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, one winning the Young Surgeons Travel Stipend (awarded to only three surgeons each year).
Dr. Bilchik’s background and experience uniquely qualify him to run JWCI’s clinical and GI research programs. He received his medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) and his postdoctoral degree in gastrointestinal physiology at Yale University. He then became a surgical oncology fellow at JWCI before joining JWCI’s faculty after graduation.
During this time, Dr. Bilchik began his seminal studies of occult nodal disease in colon and GI cancers. These investigations have been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2001 and are widely published in the peer-reviewed literature. Dr. Bilchik has been involved in international multicenter clinical trials in collaboration with California Oncology Research Institute, UCLA, the United States Military Cancer Institute, and investigators in Israel and Serbia.
Several of the studies he has worked on have been published in high impact peer-review journals and their findings have helped establish national guidelines and quality measures for cancer patients. Dr. Bilchik is also spearheading JWCI and Saint John’s participation in biotech-sponsored research trials, new drug development and tissue procurement.
Dr. Bilchik has several goals for the continued improvement of JWCI’s programs and research. One of his biggest ones is to establish JWCI as a center of excellence for all gastrointestinal cancers and build on Saint John’s reputation as a comprehensive cancer clinic where patients can benefit from the experience of a multi-disciplinary team of surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists.
About Saint John’s Health Center
Since its founding in 1942 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Saint John’s Health Center has been providing the patients and families of Santa Monica, West Los Angeles and ocean communities with breakthrough medicine and inspired healing.
For more information: www.newstjohns.org
About the John Wayne Cancer Institute
Since 1981, the John Wayne name has been committed by the Wayne family to groundbreaking cancer research and education in memory of their father, who died of cancer.
For more information: www.jwci.org
