When Kristen Carr was diagnosed in 1990, her physician, Dr. Murray Brennan was one of only a handful of surgeons in the United States with experience in treating her type of cancer. She was fortunate to live near Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where Dr. Brennan was Chief of Surgery. If not for Dr. Brennan’s expert care, Kristen may have lost her battle with sarcoma much sooner. At the very least, it was a tremendous comfort to know that her doctor had specialized experience in order to give her a fighting chance.
KACF Surgical Fellowship was established in 1994 in order to give other patients around the country the same fighting chance. Each year a KACF Surgical Fellow receives advanced training in treating patients with sarcoma at MSKCC under the supervision of Dr. Brennan. Because many graduating fellows then move to other institutions across the country, and because almost all of them work in teaching hospitals, where they train other doctors, the field of sarcoma experts continues to widen and grow in number.
Today’s sarcoma patients have a greater chance of being treated near their homes. That means, among other things, being closer to the various kinds of non-medical support each patient needs and often best receives from family and friends. And the addition of new experts helps advance clinical knowledge in treating sarcoma across the board.
That’s what The Kristen Ann Carr Fellowship is really all about – a chance to get every sarcoma patient to an expert with experience in treating these rare and capricious tumors, and to do it with the greatest comfort to the patient.
Martin J. Heslin, M.D., M.S.H.A.
1995-1996
current position
USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute
Kevin Billingsley, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.S.
1997-1998
current position
Yale Cancer Center
David C. Linehan, M.D.
1998-1999
current position
University of Rochester Medicine - Wilmot Cancer Institute
Martin R. Weiser, M.D.
1999-2000
current position
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Martin D. McCarter, M.D.
2000-2001
current position
University of Colorado Denver, Department of Surgery, Division of GI, Tumor, and Endocrine Surgery
Larissa Temple, M.D.
2001-2002
current position
University of Rochester Medicine
Sam Yoon, M.D.
2002-2003
current position
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Stephen R. Grobmyer, M.D.
2003-2004
current position
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Sandra L. Wong, M.D., M.S.
2004-2005
current position
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Clifford Suhyun Cho, M.D.
2005-2006
current position
Michigan Medicine
Rebecca Auer, M.D., M.Sc., F.R.C.S.C.
2006-2007
current position
The Ottawa Hospital
Michael G. House, M.D.
2007-2008
current position
Indiana University School of Medicine
Steven Katz, M.D.
2008-2009
current position
TriSalus Life Sciences
Jason Sicklick, M.D., F.A.C.S.
2009-2010
current position
UC San Diego Health
Paul Karanicolas, M.D.
2010-2011
current position
University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
George Plitas, M.D.
2011-2012
current position
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Kaitlyn Kelly
2012
current position
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
Ann Lee
2014
current position
New York University Medical Center
Michael J. Cavnar
2015
current position
University of Kentucky
Iris Wei
2016
current position
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Edmund (Ned) King Bartlett
2017
current position
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Sonia Cohen, MD, PhD
2019
current position
Massachusetts General Hospital