Ryan Fields, M.D.

Dr. Ryan Fields is a surgeon-scientist devoted to caring for people with complex cancers. He serves as Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Surgeon-in-Chief at Strong Memorial Hospital, and Associate Director for Translational Research at the Wilmot Cance...

Dr. Ryan Fields is a surgeon-scientist devoted to caring for people with complex cancers. He serves as Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Surgeon-in-Chief at Strong Memorial Hospital, and Associate Director for Translational Research at the Wilmot Cancer Institute.

Dr. Fields’ clinical practice focuses on surgery for cancers of the pancreas, biliary system, liver (including metastatic tumors), stomach, soft tissues (sarcoma), and melanoma. His research examines how cancers spread and how to improve diagnosis and treatment. He has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers and has been continuously funded by the National Cancer Institute for the past 12 years.

Before joining the University of Rochester in 2025, he served on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis (2011–2025), including as Chief of Surgical Oncology. He also founded the Washington University Solid Tumor Tissue Bank and Registry, overseeing the collection of more than 5,000 human tumors and over 30,000 derivatives, a resource shared widely to accelerate discovery.

Dr. Fields earned his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine, was a resident in General Surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, and completed a Surgical Oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He and his wife, Laura Beth, have two children, Gabriel and Sarah.