PMP Pals Webinar: Prehab and Rehab: Focus on Exercise for Surgery Preparation and Recovery

Jula Veerapong, MD, is a general surgeon and surgical oncologist who specializes in treating gastrointestinal malignancies. He is an expert in peritoneal surface malignancies, which include cancers that have originated from or spread to the peritoneal lining (lining of the abdominal cavity). He treats people with pseudomyxoma peritonei, appendiceal cancer (low grade and high grade), colorectal cancer, sarcomas (desmoplastic small round cell tumors), mesothelioma, and gynecologic malignancies (epithelial ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal carcinoma, borderline mucinous tumor of the ovary).
Dr. Veerapong performs complex abdominal surgery for these tumors that have metastasized to the abdomen, including cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). This procedure includes complete removal of all visible abdominal tumors followed by a heated "chemo bath" circulated through the abdomen to kill any remaining microscopic cancer cells.
As a professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology in the Department of Surgery, Dr. Veerapong instructs medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine. His research interests include minimally invasive techniques for HIPEC and utilizing HIPEC for ovarian cancer. A regular speaker at national and international meetings, Dr. Veerapong has authored several book chapters. His scholarly work has been published in journals such as Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Cancer Research, and Clinical Cancer Research, among others.