Walter G. Park, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine; Medical Director, Benign Pancreas Program, Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Research Description: Dr. Park is a clinical and translational investigator of pancreatic disorders with specific projects on acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cysts, and early detection strategies for pancreatic cancer.  He has investigated the natural history of chronic pancreatitis including predicting which patients will develop diabetes, developing and validating cyst-based biomarkers for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and developing novel approaches for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. He is a longtime collaborator and colleague in the SHC Benign Pancreas Program with Dr. Brendan Visser, a member of the PCRG. Dr. Park is also the Contact PI on a UO1 with Drs. Habtezion and Kim (co-PIs) in a multi-institutional consortium organized by NIDDK/NCI to investigate mechanisms linking Chronic Pancreatitis, Pancreatogenic Diabetes and Pancreas Cancer (CPDPC). The focus of the UO1 studies at Stanford is to identify diagnostic biomarkers for chronic pancreatitis, type 3c diabetes, and early-stage pancreatic adenocarcinoma. He is a co-PI on a U01 with Dr. Andrei Iagaru in another multi-institutional consortium organized by the NCI to detect pancreas cancer early (Pancreatic Cancer Detection Consortium). The focus of the U01 is to develop novel molecular imaging approaches for early detection of pancreas cancer.

Dr. Park collaborates with PCRG members including Drs. Visser, Habtezion, Chen, Fisher, Poultsides and Kim.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford PCRG members in bold):

  1. Zaid, M, Elganainy, D, Dogra, P, Dai, A, Widmann, L, Fernandes, P, Wang, Z, Pelaez, MJ, Ramirez, JR, Singhi, AD, Dasyam, AK, Brand, RE, Park, WG, Rahmanuddin, S, Rosenthal, MH, Wolpin, BM, Khalaf, N, Von Hoff, DD, Tam, EP, Maitra, A, Cristina, V, Koay, EJ. Imaging-Based Subtypes of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Exhibit Differential Growth and Metabolic Patterns in the Pre-Diagnostic Period: Implications for Early Detection. Front Oncol 2020;10:596931 

  2. Park, WG, Li, L, Appana, S, Wei, W, Stello, K, Anderson, DK, Hughes, SJ, Whitcomb, DC, Brand, RE, Yadav, D, Habtezion, A; Consortium for the Study of Chronic Pancreatitis, Diabetes, and Pancreatic Cancer. Unique circulating immune signatures for recurrent acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer: A pilot study of these conditions with and without diabetes. Pancreatology 2020;20(1):51-59.

  3. Goggins, M, Overbeek, KA, Brand, RE, Syngal, S, Del Chiaro, M,  Bartsch, DK, Carrato, A, Farrell, JJ, Fishman, EK, Fockesn, P, Gress, TM, van Hooft, JE, Hruban, RH, Kastrino, F, Klein, AP, Lennon, AM, Lucas, A, Park, WG, Rustgi, AK, Simeone, DM, Stoffel, E, Vasen, HF, Cahen, DL, Canto, MI, Bruno, MJ. On behalf of the international Cancer of the Pancreas Screening (CAPS) consortium. Management of patients with increased risk for familial pancreatic cancer: updated recommendations from the international Cancer of the Pancreas Screening (CAPS) consortium. Gut 2020;69:7-17.

  4. Abu-El-Haija, L, Ivy, JS, Park, W. The effect of the distribution of the inverse growth rate on pancreatic cancer progression. IEEE 2019:1044-1054. 

  5. Kimura R, Wang L, Shen B, Huo Li, Tummers W, Filipp F, Guo H, Haywood T, Abou-Elkacem L, Baratto L, Habte L, Devulapally R, Witney T, Cheng T, Tikole S, Chakraborti S, Nix J, Bonagura C, Hatami N, Mooney J, Desai T, Turner S, Gaster T, Otte A, Visser B, Poultsides G, Norton J, Park W*, Stolowitz M, Lau K, Yang E, Natarajan A, Ilovich O, Srinivas S, Srinivasan A, Paulmurugan A, Willmann J, Chin F, Cheng Z, Iagaru A, Li F, Gambhir S. Evaluation of Integrin αvβ6 Cystine Knot PET Tracers to Detect Cancer and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Nat Comm 2019;10:4673. 

  6. Springer S, Masica DL, Dal Molin M, Douville C, Thoburn CJ, Afsari B, Li L, Cohen JD, Thompson E, Allen PJ, Klimstra DS, Schattner MA, Schmidt CM, Yip-Schneider M, Simpson RE, Fernandez-Del Castillo C, Mino-Kenudson M, Brugge W, Brand RE, Singhi AD, Scarpa A, Lawlor R, Salvia R, Zamboni G, Hong SM, Hwang DW, Jang JY, Kwon W, Swan N, Geoghegan J, Falconi M, Crippa S, Doglioni C, Paulino J, Schulick RD, Edil BH, Park W, Yachida S, Hijioka S, van Hooft J, He J, Weiss MJ, Burkhart R, Makary M, Canto MI, Goggins MG, Ptak J, Dobbyn L, Schaefer J, Sillman N, Popoli M, Klein AP, Tomasetti C, Karchin R, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Wolfgang CL, Hruban RH, Lennon AM. A multi-modality test to guide the management of patients with a pancreatic cyst. Sci Transl Med. 2019 Jul 17;11(501).