Abigail Fong, M.D., M.B.A
- Thoracic Surgery
- Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery
As an assistant clinical professor of thoracic surgery at City of Hope® Cancer Center Duarte and South Pasadena, Abigail Fong, M.D., M.B.A, brings her expertise in innovative surgical techniques to patients undergoing treatment for diseases including lung and esophageal cancer and neuroendocrine and sarcoma tumors.
Dr. Fong pursued a career in thoracic surgery because its leading-edge techniques offered her the chance to make a significant impact on patients’ lives. She works with patients and loved ones to create a customized treatment plan tailored to each patient’s unique diagnosis, needs and goals.
After earning her medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Fong completed a residency in general surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, followed by a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also completed the American Association for Thoracic Surgery’s surgical robotics fellowship and holds an MBA in health care administration from the University of Colorado.
She has more than 20 peer-reviewed articles to her name, including a study on surgical approaches to small-cell lung cancer recently published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
Location
South Pasadena
South Pasadena, CA 91030
Education & Experience
- 2016, Doctor of Medicine, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
- 2012, Master of Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado
- 2010, Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, Healthcare Ethics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
- 2022, Categorical General Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
- 2022, Categorical General Surgery, PGY3-5, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
- 2018, Categorical General Surgery, PGY1-2, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- 2024, Cardiothoracic Surgery, UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 2024-present, Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, City of Hope®, Duarte, California
Awards & Memberships
Awards
- 2023-2024, Thoracic Surgical Robotics Fellowship recipient (AATS)
- 2019, 3rd place resident research award, Southern California American College of Surgeons Meeting
- 2012-2016, Pritzker School of Medicine Dean’s Scholar of Promise
- 2009-2010, Jonas Salk Bioethics Fellow (Princeton University)
Memberships
- American College of Surgeons Member
- American Medical Association Member
Publications
- Fong AJ, Reich H, Mirocha J, Wong A, Imai TA. (2024). Disparities and Underutilization of Surgery for Early Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 117(6), 1095–1102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2024.01.012
- Leung A, Akhmerov A, Justo M, Fong A, Mahfoozi A, Soukiasian HJ, Imai TA. (2023). Trends in segmentectomy for the treatment of stage 1A non-small cell lung cancers: Does the robot have an impact? American journal of surgery, 225(5), 921–926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.10.016
- Stewart CL, Fong A, Payyavula G, DiMaio S, Lafaro K, Tallmon K, Wren S, Sorger J, Fong Y. (2022). Study on augmented reality for robotic surgery bedside assistants. Journal of robotic surgery, 16(5), 1019–1026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-021-01335-z
- Fong AJ, Stewart CL, Lafaro K, LaRocca CJ, Fong Y, Femino JD, Crawford B. (2021). Robotic assistance for quick and accurate image-guided needle placement. Updates in surgery, 73(3), 1197–1201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13304-020-00956-7
- Lafaro KJ, Stewart C, Fong A, Fong Y. (2020). Robotic Liver Resection. The Surgical clinics of North America, 100(2), 265–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.suc.2019.11.003
- Fong AJ, Lafaro K, Ituarte PHG, Fong Y. (2021). Association of Living in Urban Food Deserts with Mortality from Breast and Colorectal Cancer. Annals of surgical oncology, 28(3), 1311–1319. https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-020-09049-6
- Smith LJ, Wright J, Clark G, Ul-Hasan T, Jin X, Fong A, Chandra M, St Martin T, Rubin H, Knowlton D, Ellsworth JL, Fong Y, Wong Jr. KK, Chatterjee S. (2018). Stem cell-derived clade F AAVs mediate high-efficiency homologous recombination-based genome editing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(31), E7379–E7388. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1802343115
- Fong AJ, Smith M, Langerman A. (2016). Efficiency improvement in the operating room. The Journal of surgical research, 204(2), 371–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2016.04.054
- Fong AJ, Lemelman BT, Lam S, Kleiber GM, Reid RR, Gottlieb LJ. (2015). Reconstructive approach to hostile cranioplasty: A review of the University of Chicago experience. Journal of plastic, reconstructive & aesthetic surgery: JPRAS, 68(8), 1036–1043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjps.2015.04.014