Mark A. Schattner MD, FASGE, AGAF

Mark is a gastroenterologist with more than 19 years of experience. He have expertise in advanced endoscopic techniques for people who have or may have gastrointestinal cancers, including colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and esophageal cancer. He joined Memorial Sloan Kettering in 2001 and serve as Chief of the Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Service.
He come from a long line of physicians. He was drawn to gastroenterology specifically because of the way the field serves as a bridge between medicine and surgery subspecialties. At MSK, they partner with their colleagues in the Department of Surgery and across the institution to develop personalized treatment plans that are the most effective and least invasive. This close collaboration means we are able to offer each patient an entire team of experts that is devoted to his or her care.
In the clinic, they use a variety of procedures — including colonoscopy, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and small intestinal enteroscopy — to see inside the gastrointestinal tract and retrieve tissue samples for biopsy. The Advancements in these technologies allow us to diagnose and begin treating diseases at earlier stages. For some patients, they can perform state-of-the-art endoscopic procedures to destroy tumors and polyps, which can have as good of an outcome as traditional surgical procedures, with fewer chances for complications.
His research involves developing and testing new endoscopic devices and techniques to effectively treat pancreatic cancer and biliary cancer without requiring people to undergo invasive surgeries. He is also looking at novel ways to safely deliver anticancer treatments directly to tumors. This work requires close collaboration with his colleagues in the labs: They share information, tissue samples, and their expertise to assess treatment effectiveness and outcomes and, ultimately, to continue to improve the options they can offer their patients.