Dr. Carol Swallow

Dr. Carol Swallow is a surgical oncologist and Head of the Division of General Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, who is committed to the improved management of patients with gastrointestinal cancer. Her focus is on innovative surgical techniques, with a strong emphasis on colon cancer and metastatic colon cancer to the liver.

She graduated from the University of Toronto Medical School, and trained in the General Surgery residency program at the University as a member of the Surgical Scientist Training Program, completing a PhD in cell biology and surgical sepsis. After this, she completed clinical fellowship training in Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Dr. Swallow's areas of clinical expertise include advanced and recurrent colorectal cancer, retroperitoneal sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumour, and gastric cancer. Her work, in collaboration with Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Senior Investigator Dr. Jim Dennis, was instrumental in establishing the Sydney C. Cooper Program for the Prevention of Cancer, a novel program at Mount Sinai Hospital that is bridging the gap between fundamental research and clinical research.

Dr. Swallow is also an Associate Member at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum, and her research interests focus on cell cycle regulation, carcinogenesis and metastasis. Specifically, Dr. Swallow is investigating the role of a protein called fetuin and its role in the development and progression of cancer, as well as the gene Plk4, which is implicated in liver cancer. Drs. Swallow and Dennis are using screening methods to analyze patient tumour samples to assess how Plk4 contributes to the growth and spread of liver cancer.

Dr. Swallow is also a Professor in the Department of Surgery and Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto, with a cross appointment to the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology.

She is Chair of the Royal College General Surgical Oncology Specialty Committee, and the President of the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology, and is the author of 50 peer-reviewed papers.