( continued from page 31 ) waiting for him when he came back after finishing training in 1996 .
Rising in the ranks within the University of Louisville School of Medicine over the years , he is now the Ben A . Reid , Sr ., MD , Professor and Chair of the Hiram C . Polk , Jr ., MD , Department of Surgery at the UofL School of Medicine .
For most of his career , he saw patients with nearly every sort of cancer as their surgical oncologist . Over the last several years , he has narrowed his focus mostly to melanoma and other skin cancers , as well as breast cancer and sarcomas .
“ I ’ m a surgeon at heart . I love to take care of patients in the operating room . Of course , there are also always residents , students , fellows — people to teach . I find that to be very rewarding because of all the people we get to influence and help train . I enjoy being able to make a difference , trying to create an environment where they can be successful and achieve their career goals . I want to create an environment that helps foster career development and is welcoming
and inclusive for everyone .”
About half his time is clinical and surgery and the rest is divided among teaching , administrative duties and research . “ I enjoy research tremendously . The most exciting thing is that a few years ago I started a Division of Immunotherapy in the Department of Surgery , and we have half a dozen PhDs who are expert immunologists , and it covers everything from cancer to a whole variety of other diseases . Dr . Jun Yan is the Division Director , and he is an incredible scientist and does amazing work . He leads this team of investigators who provide a lot of opportunities for collaboration between faculty in the Department of Surgery as well as trainees . It ’ s engaging a lot of people and creating a team of scientists who can make unique contributions . It has been really successful , and everyone has really benefited from this team-approach to science . The goal is really trying to find better ways to care for patients with cancer .”
Dr . McMasters has published over 500 articles in the peer-reviewed literature , has served as principal investigator of many
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