The series on “Current Management of Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancies” is edited by Dr. Francisco Schlottmann, MD, MPH from Department of Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA and Dr. Marco G. Patti, MD from Department of Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.

Dr. Francisco Schlottmann received his medical degree with honors at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He then completed his general surgery residency at the Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires. After his surgical training, Dr. Schlottmann completed the Soudavar fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, focusing his research on esophageal cancer. He then did a 2-year gastrointestinal surgery fellowship at the University of North Carolina, focusing his clinical and research activities on foregut disorders. Dr. Schlottmann obtained his Master of Public Health at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. He also completed a 1-year Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He currently serves as Clinical Instructor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and as Affiliate Professor of Surgery at the Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires with an active clinical and research interest in esophageal disorders, gastroesophageal reflux disease, obesity, esophageal cancer, and gastric cancer.

Dr. Marco G. Patti was born and raised in Catania, Italy. He graduated from the University of Catania, School of Medicine in 1981.  Between1983 and 1986 he did research at the University of California San Francisco, studying gastrointestinal physiology (Dr. Carlos Pellegrini and Dr. Lawrence Way).  Between 1986 and 1993, he completed a Residency in General Surgery at UCSF. After completion of his residency, he did a fellowship in esophageal cancer at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong (Professor John Wong).  Subsequently he practiced at the University of California San Francisco, the University of Chicago, and the University of North Carolina.  Presently he is involved with mentoring in the Department of Surgery at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Patti’s clinical activity focuses on foregut disorders. Over the years, he has given major contribution to the diagnosis and treatment of GERD and achalasia. Dr. Patti has published more than 300 manuscripts in peer review journals and 10 books.

Series Outline:

1. Robotic Surgery for Esophageal Cancer: What is the evidence?
2. Anti-reflux surgery to prevent the progression from Barrett’s Esophagus to Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: Yes or No?
3. Controversies in the surgical management of esophageal adenocarcinoma
4. Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant therapy for esophageal cancer
5. Current management of gastric adenocarcinoma
6. Current management of gastric GIST
7. Controversies in surgical approach to achieve R0 resections in primary and metastatic liver tumors  
8. Surgical approach and outcomes in pancreas cancer

Disclosure:
The series “Current Management of Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancies” was commissioned by the editorial office, Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology without any sponsorship or funding. Francisco Schlottmann and Marco G. Patti are serving as the unpaid Guest Editors for the series.