Raphael E. Pollock, MD, PhD, was born in Chicago, IL in 1950; he is a graduate of Oberlin College Oberlin, OH, where he majored in history. This was followed by medical school at St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, residency training in general surgery at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center and the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, Chicago, IL, followed by fellowship training in surgical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Dr. Pollock was invited to join the MD Anderson faculty in 1984 upon completion of fellowship training. While serving as an assistant professor of surgery, Dr. Pollock began graduate studies at the University of Texas Health Science Center/Houston, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, culminating in receipt of the PhD in tumor immunology in 1990. In 1993 Dr. Pollock began service as Chairman of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a position that he held until 2010. In 1996, service as Head of the Division of Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was begun, a position entailing supervisory relationships with all seven surgical specialty departments at that institution. In 2013 Dr. Pollock was recruited to The Ohio State University as Professor and Director of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Chief of Surgical Services at the James Comprehensive Cancer Center. This was followed by appointment in 2015 as Surgeon in Chief, The Ohio State University Health System. In 2017, Dr. Pollock was appointed to his current position as Professor and Director, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Pollock’s clinical and laboratory research work focuses on soft tissue sarcoma, a rare tumor system of connective tissue origin. Dr. Pollock was married to the late Dina Lev, MD, a Professor of Surgery at Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel and a former Associate Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; they have five children.