Division of Oncology Physicians
The oncology experts at Huntsman Cancer Institute are dedicated to providing compassionate and expert care to cancer patients and their families.
Neeraj Agarwal, MD
Assistant Professor, Oncology Division
 Neeraj Agarwal, MD, is an assistant professor in the Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is also an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute. As a specialist in adult hematology and oncology, Agarwal cares for patients with all types of cancer and specializes in genitourinary malignancies (cancers of the prostate, kidney, bladder, and testes), and head and neck cancers.
Agarwal is a member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the Southwest Oncology Group. After receiving his MBBS degree from Assam Medical College and MD degree from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Agarwal completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in geriatric medicine, both with the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.
Agarwal arrived in Utah in 2004 and then completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where he worked under the mentorship of Josef Prchal, MD. During his medical training and thereafter, Agarwal has received several awards and published numerous papers, book chapters, reviews, and abstracts.
Wallace L. Akerley III, MD
Senior Director of Clinical Research, Huntsman Cancer Institute
Professor, Oncology Division
 Wallace Akerley, MD, is a professor in the Oncology Division at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and senior director of clinical research and co-director of the Thoracic Cancer Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute. Improvements in cancer treatment evolve from laboratory discoveries, animal studies, and controlled clinical trials. This process is most effective when basic scientists and clinicians work side by side. Huntsman Cancer Institute offers a unique opportunity for basic scientists and clinicians to collaborate in solving problems related to cancer patients. Clinical trials offer promising new treatments to qualifying patients and are a critical step in developing improved cancer treatments. In addition to his leadership responsibilities, Akerley treats patients with many types of cancer, focusing on lung cancer in particular. He participates on the lung cancer committees of two national organizations for cancer treatment: the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG). Akerley joined the Oncology Division in 2002. Previously, he was director of Medical Oncology and Associate Director of the Boston University Cancer Center. He received his medical degree at Brown University in Rhode Island; completed his residency at the University of Southern California (USC); and served additional fellowships at USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Saundra S. Buys, MD
Co-director, Family Cancer Assessment Clinic
Medical Director, High Risk Breast Cancer Clinic, Huntsman Cancer Institute
Professor, Oncology Division
 Saundra Buys, MD, is the medical director of Huntsman Cancer Institute’s High Risk Breast Cancer Clinic (HRBCC) and a Professor in the Oncology Division, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She has cared for patients with all types of cancer since 1982 and specializes in breast cancer. Buys is the Principal Investigator on two large studies funded by the National Cancer Institute. The first, the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian (PLCO) Screening Trial, is a nationwide study to determine the effectiveness of screening for these types of cancer. The other study, the Breast Cancer Family Registry, based in six international sites including Utah, is studying some of the genetic causes of breast cancer. Buys received her MD from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, and completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Utah in 1984, she completed a clinical fellowship and research fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Launce G. Gouw, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Divison of Oncology
University of Utah School of Medicine
 Launce Gouw, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the University of Utah School of Medicine, a Huntsman Cancer Institute investigator and heads the Medical Oncology division of the HCI’s multidisciplinary Sarcoma Service.
His research background is in the fields of Human Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics. Although his scientific training is in basic laboratory biology, his recent outlook is more translational in scope. His current research focus includes sarcoma (bone and muscle tumor) clinical trials, in particular experimental therapeutics with novel targeted agents. His specific interests include the molecular characterization and genetic determinants of myriad sarcoma subtypes, targeting the cellular pathways promoting these rare and difficult to treat malignancies.
Dr. Gouw received a Cum Laude undergraduate degree at Amherst College. He has previous research training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Cancer Research (now the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research), and both an MD and PhD in Human Genetics from the University of Utah School of Medicine as a founding member of the University’s MD/PhD program.
As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellow, he carried out his PhD dissertation work mentored by the first Director of the HCI, Ray White, PhD. He has therefore been with the HCI since its inception, in both research and clinical realms, as he did housestaff training and Hematology & Oncology Fellowship with the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics and the HCI. He received sarcoma-specific mentoring under Lei Chen, MD, PhD and Karen Albritton MD.
Before joining HCI, Gouw worked as an attending physician with the Salt Lake Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) and as a staff physician with Utah Cancer Specialists. With his prior connection to Utah’s largest community oncology group, he hopes to foster research links between academic and community practice to further sarcoma research in the Intermountain West. He continues as an attending at the Salt Lake VAMC.
He is an active member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Connective Tissue Oncology Society, the Southwest Oncology Group and the Huntsman Intermountain Cancer Care Program.
Martha J. Glenn, MD
Associate Professor, Clinical, Oncology Division
 Martha Glenn, MD, is a Medical Oncologist and an Associate Professor, Clinical in the Oncology Division, at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She treats patients with blood-related cancers such as leukemia and lymphomas. She is also participating in leukemia research and clinical trials for lymphoma at Huntsman Cancer Institute. The clinical trials are testing methods for treating low-grade lymphomas. They are called radio-labeled monoclonal treatment, and they involve tumor-specific radiation therapy. Tumor-specific treatment is more precise than some other forms of radiation therapy because it is applied directly to the cancer.
Glenn completed her medical training at Columbia University in New York City and a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, also in New York City.
Kenneth F. Grossmann, MD, PhD
Instructor, Division of Oncology Division
 Kenneth Grossmann, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and a Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) investigator, studies the mechanisms of changes in cell activity when cancer develops.
Dr. Grossman recently joined the Melanoma and Cutaneous Oncology Program as a medical oncologist. He sees patients with advanced melanoma and also conducts clinical trials. His laboratory research focuses on a demethylase enzyme complex that can cause the hallmarks of many kinds of cancer, including melanoma. Better understanding of melanoma tumor biology may lead to new ways to treat the disease.
Dr. Grossmann attended medical school at the Oregon Health Sciences University, where he also completed his internship, residency, and a fellowship. He then moved to Salt Lake City, where he completed a fellowship at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and by the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Arthur Hartz, MD, PhD
Research Associate, Health Services Research Program
Professor, Oncology Division
 Arthur Hartz, MD, PhD, is the director of the Health Services Research Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute and a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Utah. He plans to investigate the following questions by analyzing existing medical data:
Which existing therapy for a specific cancer is optimum, and how does the optimum therapy depend on characteristics of the cancer, previous treatment, and characteristics of the patient?
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Do some providers of a specific cancer treatment have better results than others, and if so, why?
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Under what circumstances are unusually toxic and costly cancer treatments valuable?
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What barriers in the healthcare system prevent patients from receiving optimal preventive care or treatment?
Hartz received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1974. In 1982, he received a medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Hartz has participated on numerous review panels, including most recently the Chronic Fatigue Committee Advisory to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Assistant Secretary for Health. He has also served as a reviewer for more than a dozen scientific and medical publications, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, and Journal of Cancer Research.
Kimberly Anne Jones, MD
Instructor, Oncology Division
 Kimberly Jones, MD, is a clinical instructor in the Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is board certified in internal medicine, board eligible in hematology and oncology, and is also an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Her research interests include investigating drug therapies that will be more effective in killing tumor cells and less harmful to normal cells, known as molecular targets. She is also interested in developing clinical trials with a translational focus in creating new ways to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal malignancies, particularly pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer.
Jones received her medical degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, completed her residency in internal medicine at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California, and completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Utah. She earned the Vice President’s Award for Research from the American Academy of Otolaryngology and received the 2008 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Foundation Merit Award. She has lectured and published on numerous topics related to the lymphatic system and cancers of the colon, rectum, and pancreas.
Paul J. Shami, MD
Professor of Medical Oncology, Dept. of Internal Medicine
 Dr. Paul Shami is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Utah and a Member and Clinical Investigator at the University’s Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology.
Dr. Shami was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. He attended the American University of Beirut where he obtained a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Chemistry in 1984. He was then accepted at the American University of Beirut School of Medicine where he obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1988. Dr. Shami then came to the United States for his residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. While at Duke he trained in the laboratory of Dr. J. Brice Weinberg, a leader in the field of nitric oxide biology. After 3 years as a member of the Duke faculty, he was recruited in 1997 to the University of Utah School of Medicine. He initially established his research lab at the Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Medical Center where he was Chief of Hematology/Oncology between 2002 and 2005. In 2004 his lab was moved to the University of Utah. He now sees patients exclusively at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
In his research capacity, Dr. Shami oversees the leukemia program at HCI where he has established the most comprehensive leukemia clinical trials program in the Intermountain West. Because of his expertise and national recognition in the treatment of blood cancers he sits on the Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome panels of the National Cancer Center Network. NCCN panels develop guidelines that are followed nationally and internationally for the treatment of cancer.
Dr. Shami’s research efforts focus on the development of new therapies for cancer. In collaboration with a team of chemists (led by Dr. Larry Keefer) at the National Cancer Institute, he has developed a new class of drugs that deliver nitric oxide to cancer cells in a targeted fashion. To lead this effort, he founded JSK Therapeutics Inc. (JSKT), a Utah-based biotech start-up company. Dr. Shami has received multiple grants and significant support from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the National Cancer Institute.
Sunil Sharma, MD
Senior Director of Clinical Research, Huntsman Cancer Institute
Director, HCI Center for Investigational Therapeutics
Professor, Dept. of Internal Medicine, University of Utah
Jon & Karen Huntsman Presidential Professor in Cancer Research
 Sunil Sharma, MD, is senior director of clinical research, a director of the Center for Investigational Therapeutics, and an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). Sharma is also a professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Utah and member of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program and the Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics Program at HCI. He holds a Jon and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professorship in Cancer Research.
Sharma is an expert in the development and testing of new cancer therapies. At HCI, he is working to increase the portfolio of high-quality clinical trials, including phase I trials. He is also establishing a translational oncology lab to support related studies. In addition, his clinical interests are focused on treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancers (colon, pancreatic, esophageal, rectal, liver), mesothelioma, and rare tumors (carcinoid, neuroendocrine tumors, and carcinomas of unknown primarys).
Before joining HCI, Sharma built a phase I clinical trials program at the Nevada Cancer Institute where he oversaw more than 25 clinical trials. He led a global oncology drug development program at the drug manufacturing company Novartis. He also worked as a physician in the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City. He earned a medical degree at the University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
John H.Ward, MD
Professor and Chief, Oncology Division
 John Ward, MD, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Chief of the Oncology Division in the Department of Internal Medicine. Ward is also an Investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute. Ward sees patients with a variety of malignant diseases, with an emphasis on breast cancer. He is Principal Investigator for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) site at Huntsman Cancer Institute and heads participation in breast cancer prevention trials. He is also Principal Investigator for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) site at the University of Utah.
These cooperative groups provide access to national clinical trials for a wide variety of malignancies. Ward represents Huntsman Cancer Institute on the breast cancer treatment guidelines panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. A graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine, Ward completed an Internal Medicine residency at Duke University where he received the Haskel Schiff award as the outstanding resident. He completed a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and has been on the faculty since 1982. Ward is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hematology. He has received numerous accolades for his teaching excellence, including the 2002 James L. Parkin, MD, award for outstanding clinical teaching at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
John R. Weis, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Oncology Division
John Weis, MD, holds an appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He also serves as a Staff Oncologist at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Weis specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer. Weis served as research fellow in the lab of George Rodgers, MD, PhD, where he researched coagulation assays, induction/suppression of coagulant properties, tissue culture, and the relationship of atherogenic lipoproteins and thrombosis.
He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine, as well as research and clinical fellowships in Hematology/Oncology, at the University of Utah. Prior to joining Huntsman Cancer Institute in 2001, Weis served patients through community practice for fifteen years.
Theresa Werner, MD
Instructor, Oncology Division
Theresa Werner, MD, is an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute and an instructor in the Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, at the University of Utah School of Medicine. As a specialist in adult hematology and medical oncology, Werner’s main areas of interest include breast cancer and gynecologic malignancies (cancers of the ovary, uterus, cervix, and vagina).
Werner earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, and her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. She then completed a residency in internal medicine and a chief medical residency at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where she received awards for excellence in teaching and the clinical care of patients. Werner then completed a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Werner is a member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the Southwest Oncology Group. She participates in clinical trials and clinical research for patients with breast and gynecologic malignancies, as well as patients at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
For More Information or to schedule an appointment:
Huntsman Cancer Institute
2000 Circle of Hope
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
(801) 585-0100
(877) 585-0303 |
