Ryan Fields, M.D., F.A.C.S.

I am a surgical oncologist and translational scientist who treats solid tumors, including pancreatic cancer, primary and metastatic liver cancers, gastric cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, and melanoma. My research training began at the University of Michigan under the mentorship of Drs. James Mulé and Alfred Chang in tumor immunology. These early studies of dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines set the stage for my interest in cancer biology and immunology. Since that time, I have continued my research and clinical training in surgical oncology and solid tumor biology and immunology. I completed a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. I have >220 peer-reviewed publications with an emphasis on solid tumor biology, treatment, and outcomes. I am the Chief of Surgical Oncology and serve as Director of the Washington University Solid Tumor Tissue Bank and Registry. I am also the Co-Leader of the Solid Tumor Therapeutics Program (STTP) and the Melanoma and Cutaneous Oncology Program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Alvin J. Siteman NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.
My research focuses on two main areas: (1) mechanisms of cancer metastases and (2) novel in vitro and small animal models of cancer. We directly compare primary and metastatic solid tumors, leveraging our expertise and strength in high-quality biospecimen procurement. In conjunction with collaborators at The McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University, we employ comparative genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenetic techniques to identify differences in mutational profiles between metastatic and primary tumor tissue. Pathways found to be critical in the acquisition of a metastatic phenotype are further explored. This has led to the creation of the multi-disciplinary “Team Science” Cancer Genomics working group, which fosters multi-PI projects and collaborations.
In the area of cancer modeling, we are working to improve the pre-treatment evaluation of diagnostics and therapeutics by developing novel small animal and in vitro models of cancer. I am the PI of an NCI-R01 to develop a humanized mouse model of cancer to evaluate cancer biology and immunology and I am the PI of an NCI-R21 to develop a novel “tumor-on-a-chip” high-throughput, in vitro model system. I am also Co-PI of the Washington University U2C Human Tumor Atlas Network (HTAN) program that is evaluating resistance and response to treatment across space and time in pancreatic and breast cancer.
I have expertise and significant experience leading large-scale human tumor collection efforts. I serve as the PI of the Biospecimen Core of the Washington University SPORE in Pancreatic Cancer and am Co-PI of the PDX Development Unit for the Washington University PDX U54 Clinical Trial Program. As the director of the Solid Tumor Tissue Bank and Registry, I have overseen the collection of >2,000 human tumors and creation of >20,000 derivatives. We have an IRB-approved tumor collection and patient-derived xenografting (PDX), cell line, and organoid creation effort. We work in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative effort to evaluate and translate these model systems into tools that can be used to evaluate novel therapeutics in translational oncology.
I also have a strong commitment and interest in surgical and graduate medical education. I serve as Associate Program Director and Director of Resident Research for the General Surgery Residency Training Program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine. I have mentored >15 undergraduates, medical students, residents, and fellows in my laboratory and research program, many whom have gone on to further training and careers in academic surgical oncology.