BiliaryTractCancer near Pompton Plains, NJ

Biography: Dr. Accordino graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor of science in Pre-medicine with minors in Health Policy and Administration and Biology. She completed her medical degree at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. While in medical school she was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society which recognizes high educational achievement. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at Weill Cornell Medical Center and her Medical Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center, where she served as Chief Fellow. During that time, she was awarded a Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award and Merit Award. She also served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cancer-Related Population Sciences supported by the National Cancer Institute for her work in quality improvement and health outcomes research. Upon fellowship graduation she became an Assistant Professor of Medicine within the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Columbia University. Since her faculty appointment she has received grant funding from multiple agencies including: The American Society of Clinical Oncology, The HOPE Foundation, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The American Cancer Society, and the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute. Dr. Accordino is currently involved in patient care, clinical research, education, and quality improvement. Dr. Accordino's research aims to improve the quality and delivery of cancer care, and cancer survivorship. Dr. Accordino participates in clinical trials at the local, national, and international level. She also has experience leading multicenter cancer trials through the SWOG Cooperative Group. The overall goal of her research is to improve quality and outcomes within oncology.

Biography: After receiving her BS in Biology at the University of North Texas, Dr. Evelyn Taiwo obtained her MD at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Following her residency at Boston University Medical Center, she completed a three-year fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Prior to joining Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Taiwo served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn from July 2011-2019, and as Attending Physician and Site Director for the Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program at Kings County Hospital. While at Kings County Hospital, she served in a leadership role as Director of the Breast Cancer Clinic, overseeing the operations, research activities, clinical care delivery, and education. As a researcher, Dr. Taiwo has contributed to a number of studies on cancer presentation in urban and minority patient populations.

Biography: Tomoaki Kato, MD, is a noted pioneer in multiple-organ transplantation, pediatric and adult liver transplantation. Dr. Kato is Surgical Director of Adult and Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is a professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Kato is known for unique and innovative surgeries for adults and children, including a six-organ transplant; a procedure called APOLT (auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation) that resuscitates a failing liver by attaching a partial donor liver, making immunosuppressant drugs unnecessary and the first successful human partial bladder transplantation involving the transplant of two kidneys together with ureters connected to a patch of the donor bladder. In a highly publicized case, he led the first reported removal and re-implantation, or auto-transplantation, of six organs to excise a hard-to-reach abdominal tumor. Previously the director of pediatric liver and gastrointestinal transplant and professor of clinical surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Kato received his medical degree from the Osaka University Medical School in Japan and received his residency training in surgery at Osaka University Hospital and Itami City Hospital in Hyogo, Japan. He completed a clinical fellowship in transplantation at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, in Miami, Florida, where he was subsequently appointed to the surgical faculty in 1997, and promoted to full professor in 2007. He served as a surgeon and senior leader of the liver and transplantation center at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, beginning in 1997, and at University of Miami Hospital (previously Cedars Medical Center), beginning in 2004. Dr. Kato is a member of numerous professional and honorary organizations, and the author or co-author of more than 180 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.ResourcesFor more information, visit the Center for Liver Disease and TransplantationIf you need assistance in Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), please call 646-317-6325 or, visit the Columbia Liver Asian Outreach Office (English | Mandarin