Timothy M. Pawlik, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

Dr. Timothy Pawlik received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Pawlik completed surgical training at the University of Michigan Hospital and spent two years at the Massachusetts General Hospital as a surgical oncology research fellow. He then went on for advanced training in surgical oncology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

His main clinical interests include alimentary tract surgery, with a special interest in hepatic, pancreatic and biliary diseases. He also has an interest in medical ethics and completed a fellowship in medical ethics at the Harvard School of Public Health as well as a Masters in Theology from Harvard Divinity School in Boston. In addition, Dr. Pawlik was the recipient of a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) KL2 Research Scholar Award and received a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Clinical Investigations.

Dr. Pawlik took his first faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins in 2005, where he was Professor of Surgery and Oncology, as well as the John L. Cameron Chair of Alimentary Tract Diseases and the Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology until 2016. 

He currently is the Chair of Surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he holds The Urban Meyer III and Shelley Meyer Chair for Cancer Research.  Dr. Pawlik also serves as the Treasurer / Secretary of The Ohio State University Practice Plan.

Dr. Pawlik has given our 430 invited talks both nationally and internationally in 27 different countries. He has published over 950 articles and 75 book chapters, in addition to editing eight surgical textbooks.  His research has been cited over 40,000 times with an H-index of over 95.  Pawlik serves on multiple editorial boards and is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Deputy Editor of JAMA Surgery, as well as an Associate Editor for Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Pawlik has served on the executive council of several of the premier surgical associations in the United States. Dr. Pawlik is a member of multiple surgical societies including the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, American Surgical Association, Society of Clinical Surgery, as well as being a past-President of the Association for Academic Surgery. 

His international contributions have been recognized through his honorary memberships in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Brazilian Society of Surgical Oncology, as well as the Society of General Surgeons of Perú.

Dr. Pawlik’s research focuses on determinations of factors associated with prognosis and staging of gastrointestinal cancers, as well as the economics of cancer care. He also studies patient/physician communication and patient engagement, as well as patient perception of cancer-care goals. 

He has consistently been recognized by Castle Connolly as one of America’s “Top Docs.”