Adam Yopp, M.D.

Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Occidental Chemical Chair in Cancer Research

Surgery - Surgical Oncology
Gallbladder/Bile Duct (Cholangiocarcinoma) Cancer
Liver Cancer

New Patient Appointment Accepting Virtual Visits or 214-645-8300

Biography

Adam Yopp, M.D., is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in surgeries for cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, stomach, and bile duct. He is the Surgical Director of the Liver Tumor Program at UT Southwestern. In addition, he is the Director of the Tissue Specimen Resource at Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.

A Wisconsin native, Dr. Yopp brings both extensive clinical and research training to UT Southwestern. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned his medical degree at St. George’s University. Following completion of a general surgery residency at Maimonides Medical Center in New York he received advanced training in hepatopancreatobiliary malignancies as a surgical oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Board-certified in surgery by the American Board of Surgery, he joined UT Southwestern in 2009.

Dr. Yopp conducts outcomes based research studying factors associated with worse outcomes in cancer patients from racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disadvantaged populations. His goal is to implement strategies aimed at reducing these disparities and improve survival in all cancer patients. His research has led to the receipt of grant support from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense.

Dr. Yopp has been a guest lecturer at international, national, regional, and local medical conferences. His research has been published in over 125 journal articles including Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Annals of Surgical Oncology. In addition, he is on the editorial board of Annals of Surgical Oncology.

He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, and the Society of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Yopp was included in D Magazine’s Best Doctor list multiple times.

Personal Note

Outside of work, Dr. Yopp can be found cheering on his beloved Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers.

Meet Dr. Yopp

Oncologist and Liver Cancer Specialist

Adam Yopp, M.D., has high hopes of eradicating liver cancer and other gastrointestinal disorders as a surgical oncologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"I believe in laying all the cards on the table with my patients and having a joint decision about what to do. I let them know I am going to be there whether it's good news or bad news."

He is a Professor of Surgery in the Surgical Oncology Division at UT Southwestern and one of four surgical oncologists on the nationally recognized gastrointestinal cancer team at Simmons. He specializes in cancer surgeries in the gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, stomach, and bile duct.

Dr. Yopp would love to see a cure for liver cancer during his lifetime. Until that happens, he will continue to battle that disease and other gastrointestinal disorders in the lab and in the operating room.

“At Simmons Cancer Center, I think we’re at the cutting edge of taking concepts that work in the lab and translating them to advanced patient care,” Dr. Yopp says. “After all, the goal of basic science lab work is to kill cancer in humans, not in mice, and I think we’re starting to do that.”

Dr. Yopp has done extensive research on liver cancer, its causes, and treatment. He directs clinical trials for drugs that fight the disease, and he is working with his colleagues at Simmons Cancer Center to diagnose and treat patients much earlier in the process, giving them the best chance for long-term survival.

He believes in an open approach with his patients when discussing their cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment options. He encourages lots of questions and says that patients are a crucial part of the decision-making team.

Personalized care is also one of Dr. Yopp’s passions, because no two patients are alike, he says. He believes in doing whatever it takes to get patients through the tough stuff, whether it’s surgery, chemotherapy, or other types of treatment.

Dr. Yopp found his calling with his first case as a medical student.

“It was called the Whipple Procedure,” he says. “They removed the head of the pancreas, and I thought it was an incredible feat of concentration and skill. From that point on, I was interested in hepatobiliary surgery.”

Education & Training

Residency - Maimonides Medical Center (2000-2007), Surgery
Fellowship - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute (2007-2009), Surgical Oncology
Medical School - St. George's University School of Medicine, Grenada (1996-2000)

Professional Associations & Affiliations

Society of Surgical Oncology
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Hepatopancreatobiliary Association
American College of Surgeons

Honors & Awards

D Magazine Best Doctor, 2011 – 2012, 2016 – 2022

Books & Publications

Publications
- Antiangiogenic therapy for primary liver cancer: correlation of changes in dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging with tissue hypoxia markers and clinical response.
  Yopp AC, Schwartz LH, Kemeny N, Gultekin DH, Gönen M, Bamboat Z, Shia J, Haviland D, D'Angelica MI, Fong Y, Dematteo RP, Allen PJ, Jarnagin WR Annals of surgical oncology 2011 Aug 18 8 2192-9
- CXCR4 Expression Predicts Patient Outcome and Recurrence Patterns after Hepatic Resection for Colorectal Liver Metastases.
  Yopp AC, Shia J, Butte JM, Allen PJ, Fong Y, Jarnagin WR, Dematteo RP, D'Angelica MI Annals of surgical oncology 2011 May
- Invasive carcinoma arising in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas: a matched control study with conventional pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
  Yopp AC, Katabi N, Janakos M, Klimstra DS, D'Angelica MI, DeMatteo RP, Fong Y, Brennan MF, Jarnagin WR, Allen PJ Annals of surgery 2011 May 253 5 968-74
- Prognosis of invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas.
  Yopp AC, Allen PJ World journal of gastrointestinal surgery 2010 Oct 2 10 359-62
- Randomized clinical trials in surgical oncology. Preface.
  Yopp AC, DeMatteo RP Surgical oncology clinics of North America 2010 Jan 19 1 xv-xvii
- Randomized clinical trials in hepatocellular carcinoma.
  Yopp AC, Jarnagin WR Surgical oncology clinics of North America 2010 Jan 19 1 151-62
- Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: rising frequency, improved survival, and determinants of outcome after resection.
  Endo I, Gonen M, Yopp AC, Dalal KM, Zhou Q, Klimstra D, D'Angelica M, DeMatteo RP, Fong Y, Schwartz L, Kemeny N, O'Reilly E, Abou-Alfa GK, Shimada H, Blumgart LH, Jarnagin WR Annals of surgery 2008 Jul 248 1 84-96
- Cystic duct biliary adenoma.
  Yopp AC, Pulipati R, Chorost MI, Horovitz JH Surgery 2008 Jan 143 1 150-1
- Tracheal stenting of iatrogenic tracheal injury: a novel management approach.
  Yopp AC, Eckstein JG, Savel RH, Abrol S The Annals of thoracic surgery 2007 May 83 5 1897-9
- Cardiac valve papillary fibroelastoma: surgical excision for revealed or potential embolization.
  Yopp AC, Vaynblat M, Cunningham JN, Lazzaro RS Journal of cardiac surgery 2007 Jan-Feb 22 1 72-3
- Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulators: a new class of immunosuppressants.
  Yopp AC, Ledgerwood LG, Ochando JC, Bromberg JS Clinical transplantation 2006 Nov-Dec 20 6 788-95
- Dysphagia lusoria and aberrant right subclavian artery.
  Yopp AC, Abrol S, Cunningham JN, Lazzaro RS Journal of the American College of Surgeons 2006 Jan 202 1 198
- Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptors regulate chemokine-driven transendothelial migration of lymph node but not splenic T cells.
  Yopp AC, Ochando JC, Mao M, Ledgerwood L, Ding Y, Bromberg JS Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2005 Sep 175 5 2913-24
- Lymph node occupancy is required for the peripheral development of alloantigen-specific Foxp3+ regulatory T cells.
  Ochando JC, Yopp AC, Yang Y, Garin A, Li Y, Boros P, Llodra J, Ding Y, Lira SA, Krieger NR, Bromberg JS Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2005 Jun 174 11 6993-7005
- Therapeutic manipulation of T cell chemotaxis in transplantation.
  Yopp AC, Krieger NR, Ochando JC, Bromberg JS Current opinion in immunology 2004 Oct 16 5 571-7
- TGF-beta induces Foxp3 + T-regulatory cells from CD4 + CD25 - precursors.
  Fu S, Zhang N, Yopp AC, Chen D, Mao M, Chen D, Zhang H, Ding Y, Bromberg JS American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2004 Oct 4 10 1614-27
- FTY720-enhanced T cell homing is dependent on CCR2, CCR5, CCR7, and CXCR4: evidence for distinct chemokine compartments.
  Yopp AC, Fu S, Honig SM, Randolph GJ, Ding Y, Krieger NR, Bromberg JS Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2004 Jul 173 2 855-65
- CD4+ CD25+ CD62+ T-regulatory cell subset has optimal suppressive and proliferative potential.
  Fu S, Yopp AC, Mao X, Chen D, Zhang N, Chen D, Mao M, Ding Y, Bromberg JS American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2004 Jan 4 1 65-78
- Leukotrienes, sphingolipids, and leukocyte trafficking.
  Yopp AC, Randolph GJ, Bromberg JS Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2003 Jul 171 1 5-10

Research

Developing novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with upper gastrointestinal malignancies especially hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer.