About David Bartlett

David L. Bartlett, MD, an internationally recognized cancer researcher and a pioneer in the use of highly advanced surgical therapies for abdominal cancers, is Chair of the Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Cancer Institute.

A respected leader in his field, Dr. Bartlett in April 2019 was named president of the Society of Surgical Oncology, a professional group whose mission is to improve patient care by advancing the science, education, and practice of cancer surgery worldwide. Dr. Bartlett came to AHN from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where he held several leadership positions, including vice chair for surgical oncology and gastrointestinal surgery services, director of the David C. Koch Regional Perfusion Cancer Therapy Center, chief of surgery for Shadyside Hospital, and the Bernard Fisher Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Dr. Bartlett specializes in all aspects of surgical oncology, with expertise in peritoneal surface malignancies, the management of complex abdominal malignancies, gastric cancer, and abdominal sarcomas. He also helped to develop and refine new regional perfusion techniques, among them the modern version of the hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC) therapy, in which chemotherapeutic drugs are heated and delivered directly into the abdominal cavity in an effort to eradicate cancer cells.