T. Peter Kingham, MD

In addition to my patient care responsibilities, an exciting part of working at Memorial Sloan-Kettering is having the chance to conduct clinical research. Currently I am directing a clinical trial that examines a new method for quickly determining the stage of pancreatic cancer, which in the future could be performed as an outpatient procedure. Knowing the stage of a cancer early on could help us avoid operating on patients with advanced disease so they can get the chemotherapy treatment they need much faster. I have also written several book chapters and many papers on surgical oncology topics.

When I am not in the clinic or operating room at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, I try to share what I have learned with healthcare professionals around the world. Over the past decade, I spent time in developing countries around the world — in Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Mexico, Malawi, and Nigeria — providing basic healthcare, surgery, and training to local medical professionals.

These experiences led me, in 2007, to co-found Surgeons OverSeas (SOS), a non-profit organization for which I now serve as president. Our mission is to help build surgical capacity in developing countries through collaborative training, funding, and research initiatives, with projects currently centered in West Africa. We hope to expand these efforts within Memorial Sloan-Kettering with long-term collaborations in developing countries to help improve cancer care throughout the world.