Darren R. Carpizo, M.D., Ph.D.

“My goal is to educate my patients about their cancer and help them make the best choice for themselves and their family on how it should be treated. I provide the same level of care that I would give to any member of my family.”

Areas of Expertise

• Liver cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Gallbladder and Bile duct cancer
• Metastatic colon cancer to the liver
• Gastric cancer
• Gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors

I chose this field to treat hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer because they are aggressive cancers that require a high degree of complex multidisciplinary oncologic management. This is challenging, but can also be very rewarding. I wanted to apply myself to this field not only to try to help patients afflicted with these cancers, but to also move the field forward through research.

In addition, I chose the field of liver surgery for several reasons. For one, I am fascinated by the liver. It is one of the most complex organs in the body both structurally and functionally and is essential for life. It is one of the most common places that cancers spread to as they progress and, it is the only organ capable of regeneration. As a surgeon, I can use this to my advantage when performing liver surgery as we have techniques to grow more liver when it is necessary to remove a very large part to treat a cancer.

Patients and providers alike can be confident knowing I have devoted the greater part of my career to the study of cancer and the treatment of it. This is due to the strong empathy I have for cancer patients and my intense passion for cancer research. I also have a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology and have been performing cancer research for over 20 years. I am intensely curious, which drives my desire to understand what we do not know. My curiosity is also fueled by experiences in patient care, resulting in new clinical trials that I lead as well as research conducted by my laboratory.

Research