Sam Yoon Appointed Chief of New Surgical Oncology Division

Sam S. Yoon, MD, has been appointed chief of the new Division of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery at VP&S, where he also will serve as vice chair of surgical oncology research and education. Before joining Columbia on Sept. 1, Yoon was an attending surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the Division of Gastric and Mixed Tumors and professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. 

Yoon is an expert in the treatment of patients with gastric and gastroesophageal cancers, sarcomas, and other soft tissue tumors and has been the principal investigator of multiple clinical trials examining novel treatment strategies. He was an early advocate for minimally invasive robotic surgery and has performed over 300 robotic procedures, including robotic gastrectomies.  

“My vision is to make the surgical oncology care and cancer care at Columbia more comprehensive and diverse,” Yoon says. “I’m here to expand the Division of Surgical Oncology and to help other divisions expand their research and education activities.” 

Yoon’s research focuses on cancer stem cells and targeted biological agents in combination with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. His laboratory has been funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute for 18 years and strives to translate new research discoveries into the clinic. Yoon is also part of multi-institution research groups funded by Stand Up To Cancer and the DeGregorio Family Foundation to discover early diagnostics and new therapies for gastric cancer. His clinical and research efforts have led to over 150 original research articles, book chapters, and reviews. 

“We are thrilled to have a leader like Dr. Yoon to develop our new surgical oncology program,” says Craig Smith, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery at VP&S. “Under Sam’s guidance, Columbia’s surgical oncology care will be second to none.”  

Yoon graduated from Harvard University and received his MD from the University of California at San Diego. He completed his residency in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and his fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He was an associate professor of surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School before joining the staff at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2012.