Department Name

Front row: Mary Alice Dennis, BSN, RN; Virginia Hessels; Kimberly Vaughn, ARNP; Eleanor Curran, PA-C; Stephen Vogel, MD. Back row: Stephen Grobmyer, MD; Edward Copeland, MD; William Cance, MD; Steven Hochwald, MD.

To Refer a Patient

Welcome to the Division of Surgical Oncology, University of Florida Department of Surgery website. Please take a moment to learn about our expertise in diagnosing, treating, and caring for cancer patients.

Today, more than half of all patients diagnosed with cancer can be cured, and many others will live long, meaningful lives even with their disease. But getting the correct diagnosis and the most appropriate treatment right from the start is crucial. The surgical oncologists at the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center (UFSCC) focus exclusively on cancer, its treatment, and cure. Our physicians have unparalleled expertise in diagnosing and treating all types of cancer, and they use the latest technology and the most innovative, advanced therapies to increase the chances of a cure. The close collaboration between our doctors and our research scientists also means that new drugs and therapies developed in the laboratory can be moved quickly to the bedside, offering patients improved treatment options.

We also recognize that each patient is unique and each type of cancer is different and the best treatment for one patient may not be right for another. Although we are well known for our leading-edge cancer therapies, we take particular pride in the compassion and dedication of our doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff.

We have a unified approach to cancer care, with teams of physicians who work together to guide each patient through diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. We have a team devoted to diagnosing and treating breast cancer, another focuses on colorectal cancer, others concentrating on melanoma, sarcoma, gastro esophageal cancer, pancreatic tumors, and liver tumors. These teams have a depth and breadth of experience that is unsurpassed. Using this approach, the treatment plans reflect the combined expertise of many doctors - surgeons, medical oncologists, radiologists, radiation oncologists, and pathologists. This approach also ensures that patients who need several different therapies to treat their cancer will receive the ideal combination.

Recent studies have shown that, for many cancers, patients have fewer complications if they have surgery at a hospital that performs high volumes of these operations and if the surgery is performed by a surgeon with expertise in the procedure. You can be sure that our surgical oncologists are among the most experienced cancer surgeons in the nation. Over the years, they have pioneered many surgical innovations, including laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of many cancers. This type of surgery, which uses several small incisions rather than one large incision, results in less post-surgical pain and a faster recovery. Our surgeons are also at the forefront of developing surgical procedures to reconstruct the breast, colon, and the rectum following cancer surgery. Our physicians continue to apply new techniques to spare organs and preserve function.