C. Tyler Ellis, MD, MSCR, was first author of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that investigated increasing rates of treatment with chemoradiation alone (without surgery) for patients with rectal adenocarcinoma. After examining thousands of rectal adenocarcinoma cases between 1998 and 2010, they found increased use of non-operative management for patients. The increase occurred more frequently in black and uninsured Medicaid patients.
Dr. Ellis is a general surgery resident at UNC Hospitals and a National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Service Research,
In addition to Ellis, other UNC authors on the study included Cleo A. Samuel of the Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management and the UNC Lineberger Cancer Prevention and Control Program; and Karyn B. Stitzenberg, MD, MPH, FACS, a UNC Lineberger member and an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine Division of Surgical Oncology.