Joo Ha Hwang, MD PhD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine.

Research description: Dr. Hwang’s research aims to improve care to patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He performs endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and is often the initial physician that informs the patient that they have pancreatic cancer. His work has advanced the field of therapeutic ultrasound for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Trained as both a physician in the field of gastroenterology and a Ph.D. scientist in the field of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), Dr. Hwang has been actively involved in HIFU research for the past 15 years. Over the past 10 years, he studied the role of HIFU for treatment of pancreatic cancer. Studies have included examining thermal effects of HIFU (including hyperthermia and ablation) and enhanced drug delivery. He is currently evaluating the combination of focused ultrasound, drug delivery, and immunotherapy as a promising approach to the treatment of pancreatic cancer, which he hopes has potential to improve outcomes in patients with pancreatic cancer.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford PCRG members in bold):

  1. G Li T, Wang YN, Khokhlova TD, D'Andrea S, Starr F, Chen H, McCune JS, Risler LJ, Mashadi-Hossein A, Hwang JH. Pulsed High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Enhances Delivery of Doxorubicin in a Preclinical Model of Pancreatic Cancer. Cancer Res. 2015 Sep 15;75(18):3738-46.

  2. Li T, Khokhlova T, Maloney E, Wang YN, D'Andrea S, Starr F, Farr N, Morrison K, Keilman G, Hwang JH. Endoscopic high-intensity focused US: technical aspects and studies in an in vivo porcine model (with video). Gastrointest Endosc. 2015 May;81(5):1243-50. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2014.12.019.

  3. Khokhlova TD, Haider Y, Hwang JH. Therapeutic potential of ultrasound microbubbles in gastrointestinal oncology: recent advances and future prospects. Ther Adv Gastroenterol [OnlineFirst DOI: 10.1177/1756283X15592584]

  4. Maloney E, Hwang JH. Emerging HIFU applications in cancer therapy. Int J Hyperthermia. 2015 May;31(3):302-9. doi: 10.3109/02656736.2014.969789. Epub 2014 Nov 4. PubMed PMID: 25367011

  5. Li T, Khokhlova T, Sapozhnikov O, Hwang JH. Bubble Doppler on monitoring cavitation in tissue during high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 2014;61(10):1698-708.

  6. Li T, Chen H, Khokhlova T, Wang YN, Kreider W, He X, Hwang JH. Passive cavitation detection during pulsed HIFU exposures of ex vivo tissues and in vivo mouse pancreatic tumors. Ultrasound Med Biol 2014;40:1523-34.

  7. Khokhlova T, Li T, Sapozhnikov O, Hwang JH. The use of twinkling artifact of Doppler imaging to monitor cavitation in tissue during high intensity focused ultrasound therapy. Proc Meet Acoust. 2013 Jun;19(1). pii: 075034.

  8. Chen H, Hwang JH. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction for chemotherapeutic drug delivery to solid tumors. J Ther Ultrasound. 2013 Jul 1;1:10.

  9. Wang YN, Khokhlova T, Bailey M, Hwang JH, and Khokhlova V. Histological and biochemical analysis of mechanical and thermal bioeffects in boiling histotripsy lesions induced by high intensity focused ultrasound. Ultrasound in Med. & Biol., Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 424–438, 2013.