Vinod P. Balachandran, MD
Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgeon
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Areas of Expertise
My Specialties
- Pancreatic Cancer
- Benign, Premalignant, and Malignant Diseases of the Pancreas, Bile Duct, Gallbladder, and Liver
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About Me
- Associate Attending Surgeon
I am a surgical oncologist who specializes in treating people with both benign and cancerous diseases of the pancreas, bile duct, gallbladder, and liver.
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Our team philosophy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is that every patient is unique in all aspect. Each person has individual needs, from the time of diagnosis, through treatment, and during recovery. This is particularly important when treating cancers of the pancreas, bile duct, gallbladder, and liver. These cancers are among the most complex to treat. They require an experienced surgical team. My partners at MSK and I have extensive experience treating these tumors and have pioneered many of the surgical techniques to safely remove them. We perform close to 1,000 operations a year. We have also developed laparoscopic and robotic surgical approaches and use these techniques whenever possible. They allow people to recover faster after surgery. Individualized treatment can often have many parts, such as chemotherapy and other treatments in addition to surgery. The international leaders on our team have expertise in medical oncology, gastroenterology, radiology, pathology, and nursing. We work to ensure the best possible treatment for every person we care for and meet as a team to discuss all details of patient care. Our primary goal is to provide people with exceptional care in the most careful, efficient, and speedy way possible.
In addition to performing surgeries and caring for patients, I do laboratory research to identify new ways to use the immune system to fight pancreatic cancer. I am also a member of the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MSK. T cells are highly specialized cells in the immune system that are designed to protect the human body from infections and cancer. In the past decade, we have discovered that T cells can recognize and kill cancers. With this understanding, we have been able to develop treatments called immunotherapies to supercharge T cells and overcome cancer’s defenses.
Immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer have been limited because we didn’t know what draws T cells into these tumors. My laboratory tackled this question with a deep examination of extremely rare long-term survivors of pancreatic cancer. This group survived six years on average. Most other people with the disease do not survive that long. Our investigations have found that tumors of long-term survivors have 12 times more activated T cells. The exceptional survival of these people is linked to the T cells recognizing a certain mutation in cancer proteins called neoantigens. These proteins make cancer resemble an infection. Strikingly, T cells recognizing these neoantigens can be found in the blood of long-term survivors up to 12 years after the tumors were surgically removed. This finding suggests that neoantigens are very effective in generating long-lasting “immune memory” against tumors, and they could serve as effective cancer vaccines. We are now developing clinical trials of personalized cancer vaccines in combination with other immunotherapies to treat pancreatic and other cancers.
I am a recipient of the National Institutes of Health Paul Calabresi Career Development Award, the Society for Surgical Oncology Harvey Barker Travelling Fellow Award, the American Association for Cancer Research Career Development Award, and the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award. I am the principal investigator of several research initiatives, including a Cancer Moonshot Award from the National Cancer Institute and a Convergence Award from Stand Up To Cancer.
A hepatopancreatobiliary (heh-PA-toh-PAN-kree-A-to-BIH-lee-AYR-ee) surgeon is a doctor with special training in surgery on the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, and bile ducts. They are also called an HPB surgeon.
My Specialties
- Pancreatic Cancer
- Benign, Premalignant, and Malignant Diseases of the Pancreas, Bile Duct, Gallbladder, and Liver
Education
- MD, SUNY at Stony Brook
Residencies
- General Surgery - New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Awards and Honors
- 2023 FNIH Trailblazer Prize for Clinician-Scientists
Fellowships
- Complex Surgical Oncology - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Board Certifications
- Surgery
Insurance Information
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HMO, PPO
In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO
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HMO, EPO PPO, POS
In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO
Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Emblem to learn more.
In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO
In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO, DSN
In Network Coverage Type
PPO
In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO
Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Fidelis to learn more.
In Network Coverage Type
EPO, HMO, PPO, POS
Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Healthfirst to learn more.
In Network Coverage Type
HMO
In Network Coverage Type
PPO
In Network Coverage Type
EPO
In Network Coverage Type
EPO
In Network Coverage Type
Federal Government
In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO
In Network Coverage Type
State Government
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If you have questions about insurance, call us at 646-497-9176.
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New Patients
Current Patients
Contact and Location
Dr. Balachandran sees patients at one location.
Looking to see a doctor at a different location? See all MSK locations.
Colleagues
Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.
Clinical Trials
- Clinical Trials Investigated by Dr. Balachandran
- A Phase 2 Study of an mRNA Vaccine plus Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy Versus Chemotherapy Alone for People with Operable Pancreatic Cancer
- Clinical Trials Co-Investigated by Dr. Balachandran
- A Phase 1 Study of ELI-002 7P Immunotherapy in People with Digestive Cancers
Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.
You may be able to participate in a clinical trial even if you are new to MSK. Search our online directory to find trial information and see more about who can participate.
Search clinical trialsResearch and Publications
Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Balachandran’s journal articles. Pubmed is an online index of research papers and other articles from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
See all on PubMedPatient Reviews
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Disclosures
Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.
MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.
Vinod P. Balachandran discloses the following relationships and financial interests:
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Genentech
Professional Services and Activities
If you’re a patient at MSK and would like more information about your doctor’s external relationships, please talk with your doctor.
The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.
This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2023 through disclosure submission in spring 2024). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.
Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].