UPMC Liver Cancer Center Co-Director Chosen as President-Elect, Society of University Surgeons

PITTSBURGH, April 04, 2008 – David Geller, MD, the Richard L. Simmons professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and co-director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Liver Cancer Center, has been chosen president-elect of the Society of University Surgeons (SUS). As the nation’s premier organization for surgeon investigators, the SUS is dedicated to advancing the art and science of surgery by encouraging members to pursue original investigations in both the clinic and the laboratory and by developing innovative methods for teaching surgery.

As a hepatobiliary surgical oncologist, Dr. Geller’s clinical interests center on the evaluation and management of patients with liver cancers. He has pioneered minimally invasive liver resection surgery, performing more than 200 such procedures, and specializes in laparoscopic radiofrequency ablations of liver tumors.

“Dr. Geller’s election as president of the SUS is a wonderful recognition of his dedication to both clinical research and to providing superior and innovative cancer care,„ said Ronald Herberman, MD, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Dr. Geller’s one-year term begins February 2009. His duties will include overseeing the SUS executive council and committees for the growth of educational and political agendas, directing meetings and retreats, developing long-range strategic planning for the organization’s growth and delivering the presidential address in 2010.

Dr. Geller received his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School in 1988 and completed his general surgery residency in 1996 at UPMC, followed by a liver transplantation fellowship at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute in 1998. He has published over 150 scientific papers and chapters, and often lectures on the management of liver tumors. He has active research supported by the National Institutes of Health and serves as the principal investigator for industry-sponsored clinical trials of liver cancer.

# # #