Physician Profile

Rajiv Chandawarkar, M.D.

Dr. Chandawarkar received a master of surgery degree from the University of Bombay in India and completed post-graduate training in surgery and surgical oncology in India and Japan. In addition, he completed a research fellowship in the head and neck service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and a research fellowship in cancer immunology at Fordham University.

Prior to his specialized training in cancer reconstruction and microsurgery at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, Dr. Chandawarkar completed his residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Summa Health System and Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Akron.

Appointments

• Associate Professor of Medicine

Specialty

• Cancer Reconstructive Surgery
• Plastic Surgery

Hospital Affiliation
John Dempsey Hospital

Research Interests

• Cancer
• Immunology and tissue repair using heat shock proteins

Interest Statement
Dr. Chandawarkar joins the Health Center from the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, in Houston, where he completed fellowship training in cancer reconstruction and microvascular surgery in the department of plastic surgery. Microvascular surgery is considered the “gold standard” for certain reconstruction surgeries, including breast reconstruction following a mastectomy. In microvascular surgery, tissues are transplanted from a donor site elsewhere in the body, most commonly from the lower abdomen, along with individual blood vessels that are carefully rejoined to blood vessels at the site being reconstructed. This is done with approximately 10 sutures, each of which is thinner than human hair.

He is also an accomplished researcher in the areas of cancer, immunology and tissue repair. He is widely published in scholarly journals, holds 17 primary patents and was recently appointed to serve on the Owen Wangensteen Forum for tissue repair for the American College of Surgeons.