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WVU School of Medicine names prominent surgical oncologist as chair of surgery

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Acclaimed surgical oncologist and transplant surgeon James Wallis Marsh, Jr., has been named chair of WVU School of Medicine's Department of Surgery.

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(Editor’s Note: Both physicians mentioned in this story have the same last name. Dr. J. Wallis Marsh is the incoming chair of surgery; Dr. Clay Marsh is WVU’s vice president and executive dean for health sciences. They are not related.)

James Wallis Marsh Jr., M.D., acclaimed surgical oncologist and transplant surgeon, has been named to lead the Department of Surgery in the West Virginia University School of Medicine.

Dr. Marsh joins WVU from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the UPMC Cancer Center where he specializes in benign and malignant tumors of the liver, diseases of the bile duct and pancreas, and retroperitoneal sarcomas. He has performed more than 1,000 resections and other surgical procedures.

Marsh has been repeatedly recognized on the lists of Best Cancer Doctors in America, Best Doctors in America, and Top Doctors in Pittsburgh.

He is a member of the American Surgical Association, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, Central Surgical Society, Society of Surgical Oncology, and is also the founding member of the International Liver Cancer Association. He has published more than 220 research papers and book chapters, and his area of research focuses on improving outcomes among patients with cancer.

“This appointment further strengthens WVU's ability to provide the best quality care for patients and for future doctors to learn under the top practitioners in their fields,” WVU Vice President and Executive Dean Clay Marsh, M.D., said. (no relation.) “Wallis brings a wealth of knowledge, skills and visionary leadership to help expand the Department of Surgery’s research and medical education and further develop the comprehensive clinical program as one of WVU Medicine’s signature service lines. He embodies the ‘Mountaineers Go First’ motto, and we welcome him to the family.”

Marsh is the most recent recruit in a series of high-profile clinical leaders that includes Vinay Badhwar, M.D., executive chair of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, J. Philip Saul, M.D., executive vice president of WVU Medicine Children’s and Richard Goldberg, M.D., director of the WVU Cancer Institute.

Marsh is board-certified in general surgery. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and completed his medical degree at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. He completed a residency in surgery at the St. Paul Hospital in Dallas, a fellowship in kidney transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a fellowship in liver transplant at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

He will join the faculty on September 4 and will fill the post currently held in interim by Sanford Emery, M.D., M.B.A., who also serves as the chair for the Department of Orthopaedics.

For news and information on the WVU School of Medicine, follow us on twitter @WVUMedSchool, like us on Facebook or visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

CONTACT:  Tara Scatterday
Director, Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Medicine
304.293.0630 | tdscatterday@hsc.wvu.edu

ts/ 06/15/2017

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