Ajay Maker, MD, FACS, FSSO has been appointed to the position of Surgeon in Chief for the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. This is a newly created role charged with developing and helping implement strategies to enhance and optimize clinical operations in the adult cancer service line, with a particular focus on surgical oncology.
In this position, Dr. Maker will report to the President of the HDFCCC. He will work alongside other senior leaders in Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology and Clinical Operations as a member of the Cancer Center Operations Leadership Council. He will also lead ad hoc projects and attend problem-centered meetings as needed.
Dr. Maker is a surgical oncologist and Chief of the UCSF Division of Surgical Oncology within the Department of Surgery. He specializes in the surgical treatment of complex gastrointestinal and hepatopancreatobiliary diseases, melanomas, and sarcomas. His NIH-funded laboratory conducts research on the early detection of pancreas cancer and the development of new immunotherapies to treat colorectal liver metastases. Dr. Maker earned his medical degree at Yale School of Medicine. He then completed a residency in general surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, surgical oncology fellowship at the NIH, and conducted postdoctoral training in tumor immunology at the National Cancer Institute. He held a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and a visiting fellowship in minimally invasive surgical techniques at the University of Paris. He was a tenured Professor of Surgery and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Illinois at Chicago prior to joining UCSF in 2021 as Professor of Surgery and the Maurice Galante Distinguished Professor of Surgical Oncology.