Kelly M. McMasters, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. McMasters graduated with honors from Colgate University. He completed the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, with a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from Rutgers University. After completing general surgery residency at the University of Louisville, he performed a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University of Louisville, where he now is the Ben A. Reid Sr., M.D. Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery.

Dr. McMasters is the principal investigator of the Sunbelt Melanoma Trial, a nationwide study involving over 3500 patients and 79 centers across the United States and Canada. Dr. McMasters, at the University of Louisville and Norton Hospital, was one of the first centers in the country to perform radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of liver tumors. He is also one of the first in the United States to perform intraoperative MRI (iMRI)-guided laser and radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors. He has extensive training and experience with surgical management of all types of liver and biliary tract tumors. Dr. McMasters directs a multicenter study of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of colorectal cancer liver metastases with hepatic artery chemotherapy. He also directs a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded laboratory studying gene therapy for cancer, including liver tumors. Dr. McMasters has served on the American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) Melanoma Staging Committee. He also directs the University of Louisville Breast Cancer Sentinel Lymph Node Study, a 4000+ patient study from centers around the U.S. Dr. McMasters is first Vice President of the Southeastern Surgical Conference and was recently named to the UofL Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Society of University Surgeons, the Association for Academic Surgery, the Southern Surgical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Southwestern Surgical Congress, the American Association for Cancer Research, and numerous other professional organizations. The Western Surgical Association bestowed upon him the prestigious J. Bradley Aust Award. He is on the editorial board of Annals of Surgical Oncology and serves as a reviewer for The Lancet, the American Journal of Surgery, the Journal of Surgical Research, Cancer, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, among others.