Two University of Colorado Cancer Center physicians have been recognized as world experts in in pancreatic neoplasms by the 2021 Expertscape rankings.
Richard Schulick, MD, MBA, director of the CU Cancer Center and chair of surgery in the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and CU Cancer Center member Marco Del Chiaro, MD, clinical director of the Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Program and division chief of surgical oncology, received this distinction through data analysis placing them in the top 0.1% of scholars writing about pancreatic neoplasms, or pancreatic tumors, over the past 10 years.
The Expertscape designations, being released the week of World Pancreatic Cancer Day, are based on analysis of medical journal articles published in the previous 10 years. The journals are analyzed by year of publication, type of article, the journal in which it appeared, and other factors. More recent publications are ranked higher, as are first authors. The results are tallied for authors, institutions, regions, and countries.
“What this ranking means is that there are two experts who are surrounded by equally accomplished multidisciplinary team members who take care of pancreatic cancer patients,” Schulick says. “What this award does is really recognize the expertise of some of the individuals on the team.
“I think that pancreas cancer is a very, very serious problem and when patients are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, they should be very sure they are getting the best treatment and opinions possible. What this demonstrates is that we definitely have the expertise at the CU Cancer Center.”
Del Chiaro says the Expertscape recognition highlights an ongoing effort to cultivate and recruit experts in specific fields of treatment and research in strong programs, “and this recognition shows that investment is going in the right direction,” he says. “The University of Colorado has one of the strongest pancreatic teams in the country, and the data show that survival rates for Cancer Center pancreatic patients are higher than both state and national averages.
“It’s a matter of not only building a team with the right people who are not just good surgeons or good medical oncologists, but also scientists who use research to improve clinical outcomes and offer better treatment to patients,” Del Chiaro says.