Kim Proescholdt and Darrin S. Joy

Stephen I. Shibata, M.D., physician in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research and director of City of Hope’s Gastrointestinal Cancers Program, died April 22 following a long battle with lung cancer. He was 58.

Stephen Shibata (Photo by Kaminsky Productions)

He joined City of Hope in 1988 as a medical oncology and hematology fellow and then worked in private practice for several years. He returned to City of Hope in 1993 as a staff physician in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research and, in 2004, he took the helm of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program. In this position he helped create a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to treating gastrointestinal cancers that included innovative clinical trials using targeted and multidrug therapies.

“The loss of Dr. Shibata is profound for all of us; he was a remarkable human being and a very dear individual,” said Michael A. Friedman, M.D., president and chief executive officer of City of Hope. “It will be up to us to assure that all he represented and embodied will not be forgotten.”

Shibata is survived by his wife, Alice Sun, D.D.S., his son Benjamin and daughter Emily.

A memorial service at City of Hope will take place May 25 from 10 a.m. to noon in Cooper Auditorium. For more information and to R.S.V.P., contact Yolanda Tamayo, administrative assistant in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, at ext. 63110, or via email at ytamayo@coh.org.