Dr. Steven N. Hochwald is the Director of the Mount Sinai Cancer Center, Chief of Surgical Oncology and Associate Director of the Mount Sinai-Columbia University affiliation at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

A leading pancreatic and gastrointestinal surgical oncologist, and an avid clinician and researcher, Dr. Hochwald’s has focused on technical advances in minimally invasive upper gastrointestinal surgeries and on developing new targets and agents for the treatment of pancreatic, esophageal, gastric and other gastroesophageal malignancies. He has performed more than 1,000 minimally invasive resections of the esophagus, stomach and pancreas, using both laparoscopic and robotic approaches. He has extensively taught minimally invasive upper gastrointestinal surgery to surgical residents, surgical oncology fellows and faculty members from around the United States and abroad.

Dr. Hochwald’s work has been published in over 250 original medical papers, 40 book chapters and invited manuscripts, and over 19 scholarly reviews. Dr. Hochwald has also led numerous research studies, which aim to help patients with complicated cancers.  In addition, he has edited textbooks on minimally invasive upper gastrointestinal surgery and on comprehensive reviews of surgical oncology. Finally, he is a co-editor of the leading textbook for practicing surgeons in the United States: Mastery of Surgery.

A graduate of New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Hochwald received post-graduate training in Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and completed an oncology research fellowship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Surgical Metabolism Laboratory. He also earned an M.B.A. at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) School of Management and an executive degree in Managing Health Care Delivery at Harvard Business School Executive Education.

Dr. Hochwald holds several medical patents, and has served for many years on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) panels that develops guidelines for cancer care. He is also a member of various leading medical associations such as the American Surgical Association, the Southern Surgical Association, the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Association for Academic Surgery, the Society of University Surgeons, American Association of Cancer Research and many others.

Areas of Clinical Interest:

Stomach, esophageal and pancreatic neoplasms, small bowel and colorectal cancer, adrenal and endocrine malignancies, spleen and retroperitoneal tumors. Multidisciplinary cancer care, clinical trial development and novel molecular targeted and therapeutic drug development.

*This physician is employed by Mount Sinai Medical Center

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Recent peer reviewed clinical publications:

• Ben-David K, Kim T, Caban AM, Rossidis G, Rodriguez SS, Hochwald SN. Pretherapy laparoscopic feeding jejunostomy is safe and effective in patients undergoing minimally invasive esophagectomy for cancer. Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery (2013): 17; 1352-8.
• Ben-David, K, Tuttle R, Kukar M, Hochwald SN. Laparoscopic distal, subtotal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. J Gastroint Surg. 2015; 19: 369-74.
• Ben-David K, Rossidis G, Hochwald SN. Thoracoscopic and laparoscopic enucleation of esophageal leiomyomas, J Gastrointestinal Surgery. 2015; 19: 1350-4.
• Kukar M, Hochwald SN. Utility of FDG-PET in predicting clinical response following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer, JAMA Surgery. 2015; 150: 555-62.
• Ben-David K, Tuttle R, Kukar M, Rossidis G, Hochwald SN. Minimally invasive esophagectomy utilizing a stapled side-to-side anastomosis is safe in the Western patient population, Annals of Surg Oncol. 2016: 23(9):3056-62.
• Gabriel E, Shahab D, Shah R, Bain A, Kukar M, Hochwald SN. Laparoscopic Intragastric Surgery with Endoscopic Assistance: A Two Gastrostomy Approach with Multiple Applications. In press, Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques. 2017 Oct;27(5):e116-e120.
• Gabriel E, Alnaji R, Du W, Attwood K, Kukar M and Hochwald S. Effectiveness of repeat 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography computerized tomography (PET-CT) ccan in identifying interval metastases for patients with esophageal cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2017 Jun;24(6):1739-1746.
• Kukar M, Gabriel M, Ben-David K, Hochwald SN. Laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy for gastric neoplasms. Journal of Surgical Oncology. 2018; 118 (1): 95-100.
• Kukar M, Ben-David K, Peng JS, Attwood K, Thomas R, Hennon M, Nwogu C, Hochwald SN. Minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy with linear stapled anastomosis associated with low leak and stricture rates. J Gastrointest Surg, 2020 Aug;24(8):1729-1735.
• Technique for Robotic Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy with 6-cm Linear Stapled Side-to-Side Anastomosis. Peng JS, Nurkin SJ, Hochwald SN, Kukar M. Ann Surg Oncol. 2020 Mar;27(3):824
• Peng JS, Kukar M, Hochwald SN. Technique for Robotic Transhiatal Esophagectomy. Ann Surg Oncol. 2020 Aug;27(8):3037-3038

Recent scholarly reviews and book chapters:

• Hochwald, S.N., Conlon, K.C., Brennan, M.F. Nonfunctional pancreatic islet cell tumors. In: Surgical Endocrinology. Doherty, G.M., Skogseid, B., Eds. (2000); 361-373.
• Hochwald, S.N., Conlon, K.C. Neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. In: Clinical Challenges in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery. Poston, G.J., Blumgart, L.H., Eds., (2002).
• Camp, E.R., Hochwald, S.N. Gastroduodenal Procedures. In: ACS Surgery: Principles & Practice. Souba WW, Fink, MP, Jurkovish, GJ, Kaiser, LR, Pearce, WH, Pemberton, JH, Soper, NJ, Eds (2004); 421-436.
• Hochwald, S.N., Bloom, D., Golubovskaya, V., Cance W. Fundamentals of Cancer Biology and Molecular Therapeutics. In: Surgery: Basic Science and Clinical Evidence,Norton JA, Barie PS, Bollinger RR, Chang AE, Lowry SF, Mulvihill SJ, Pass HI, Thompson RW, Eds 2nd edition, (2008) 1933-1945.
• Hochwald, SN, Cance WG, Kurenova E. Pancreatic cancer, molecular targets for therapy. Encyclopedia of Cancer, 2nd Edition, Ed: Manfred Schwab, Springer, 2008.
• Grobmyer SR, Hochwald SN. Reoperative surgery in Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Advances in Surgery (2010):44; 327-346.
• Zendejas I, Hochwald SN. Gallbladder Cancer. Clinical Decision Support: Gastroenterology and Hepatology, edited by Bacon BR, Forsmark C,  Spechler SJ. 2013. Decision Support in Medicine, LLC. Wilmington, DE.
• Zhang J, Hochwald SN. Targeting Receptor Tyrosine Kinases in Solid Tumors. Surgical Oncology Clinics North America. (2013) Oct:22(4):685-703.doi:10.1016/j.soc.2013.06.010. Epub 2013 Jul 30. PMID: 24012395
• Kukar M. and Hochwald SN. Special Operative and Multimodal Aspects of Esophago-Gastric Junction (EGJ) Cancer Care: Western Viewpoints. Balch C. (Ed) Textbook of Surgical Oncology.
• Kukar M and Hochwald SN. Laparoscopic and Thoracoscopic Transhiatal Esophagectomy with Cervical Anastomosis. Kukar M, Hochwald S (Eds) Minimally invasive foregut surgery for malignancy: Principles and Practice, 2015; 147-156.
• Kukar M and Hochwald SN. Surgery for solid pancreatic neoplasms. Eds. Mihir Wagh and Peter Draganov. Pancreatic Masses: advances in diagnosis and therapy. Springer: 2016; 219-236.
• Coauthor: Hochwald SN. Publisher: Wolters Kluwer, Eds Nelson H et al. Operative Standards for Cancer Surgery. Volume 1. Colon Cancer. 2015; 273-320.
• Shah R, Hochwald S. Kukar M. Current treatment paradigms in the management of patients with Pancreatic Cancer. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Prevention, Detection and Treatment, Nova Science Publishers. 2017.
• Shah R, Hochwald SN. Esophageal adenocarcinoma. Complex General Surgical Oncology. Eds Hochwald SN and Cance WG. Decker Publishing, 2018.
• Shah R, Ostapoff K, Kuvshinoff B, Hochwald, S. Ablative Therapies for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer. Pancreas. 2018; 47(1): 6-11.
• Shah R, Hochwald SN. Imaging and staging of esophageal cancer. Complex General Surgical Oncology. Eds Hochwald SN and Cance WG. Decker Publishing, 2018.
• Kukar M. Hochwald SN. Laparoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy for curative intent. Operative Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Eds: S. Schwaitzberg and D.B. Jones, 2019.
• Nurkin S, Shah R, Saunders A, Hochwald SN. Total mesorectal excision. Mastery of Surgery, 7th edition, Editor in Chief, Josef Fischer, Wolters Kluwer, 2019.
• Nurkin S, Saunders A, Shah R, Hochwald SN. Abdominal perineal excision for rectal cancer. Mastery of Surgery, 7th edition, Editor in Chief, Josef Fischer, Wolters Kluwer, 2019.
• Fountzilas C, Hochwald SN. Immune checkpoint inhibitors in esophagogastric cancer: still a long way to go. Journal of Thoracic Disease. 2019; 11: 351-3.
• Peng JS, Kukar M, Mann GN, Hochwald SN. Minimally Invasive Esophageal Cancer Surgery. Surg Oncol Clin N Am. 2019; 28: 177-200.
• Chouliaras K, Hochwald S, Kukar M. Robotic-assisted Ivor Lewis esophagectomy, a review of the technique. Updates Surg. 2021; 73: 831-838.

Books Edited:

• Minimally Invasive Foregut Surgery for Malignancy: Principles and Practice, Editor in Chief: Steven N. Hochwald, Springer, 2015.
• Complex General Surgical Oncology, Editors in Chief: Steven N. Hochwald and William Cance, Decker, 2018.
• Case-based Reviews in Surgical Oncology, Editors in Chief: Steven N. Hochwald and Moshim Kukar, Decker, 2019.
• Mastery of Surgery, 7th edition, Editor in Chief, Josef Fischer, Role: Assistant Editor, Wolters Kluwer, 2019.

Recent peer reviewed basic science publications:

• Francois R, Maeng K, Nawab, A, Kaye F, Hochwald SN*, Zajac-Kaye M*. Targeting focal adhesion kinase and resistance to mTOR inhibition in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, J National Cancer Institute. 2015; 107 (8) 1-11. * both senior authors contributed equally to this publication.
• Zhang J, Gao Q, Zhou Y, Dier U, Hempel N, Hochwald SN. Focal adhesion kinase-promoted tumor glucose metabolism is associated with a shift of mitochondrial respiration to glycolysis. Oncogene 2016; 35: 1926-42.
• Zhang J, Gelman IH, Katsuta E, Liang Y, Wang X, Li J, Qu J, Yang Y, Takabe K, and Hochwald SN. Glucose drives growth factor-independent esophageal cancer proliferation via phosphohistidine-FAK signaling., Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019;8(1):37-60.
• Zhang L, Gelman I, Hochwald SN. Phosphohistidine signaling promotes FAK-RB1 interaction and growth factor-independent proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Under review.