Dr. Adam Irwin Riker, MD

Adam I. Riker, M.D., F.A.C.S., has joined the Ochsner Health System, Ochsner Cancer Institute and the Department of Surgery as the Medical Director of Cancer Services. A major emphasis of this position will be to integrate the Cancer Services on a system-wide basis, including the formation of multidisciplinary cancer programs and enhancing the expansion and accrual of patients to the very active Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. The formation of the new Cancer Services Program for Ochsner will allow us to bring quality cancer care to the forefront for the entire Ochsner Health System, providing for all of the needs of cancer patients throughout this state and others. Dr. Riker will also oversee the development, implementation and growth of the new Cancer Screening Clinic, providing a valuable service for patients to be evaluated, educated and treated for the most common cancers (breast, skin, …colorectal, prostate, lung, cervical). Dr. Riker is a board-certified Surgical Oncologist and joins us most recently from the University of Southern Alabama-Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile, Alabama. Prior to that, he maintained a large practice at the prominent H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Rikers role at Ochsner will be multiple, again establishing his clinical practice exclusively on the comprehensive surgical management of patients with melanoma, breast cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. He recently left his position as the Chief of Surgical Oncology at the USA-Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile, Alabama to join Ochsner. Dr. Riker earned both his undergraduate and medical doctorate degree from the University of South Florida and then went on to completed his residency training in general surgery at Loyola University Affiliated Hospitals in Chicago, Illinois. Additionally, he has completed a three-year Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Surgery Branch under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Rosenberg, Chief of the Surgery Branch. Here, Dr. Rikers research was centered on the development and completion of several experimental cancer "vaccine" trials focused on the immunology and immunotherapy of patients with metastatic melanoma. He continues his research in this area, publishing over 20 articles on this topic over the last two years. Dr. Riker has extensive experience in immunotherapeutic clinical trials that have focused on patients with metastatic melanoma, currently active with the CCOP within the Ochsner Cancer Institute. This program allows for the enrollment of cancer patients onto clinical trials that are appropriate and specific for each patient. Dr. Riker has written and published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, several book chapters, and has presented his research and clinical experience throughout the world at numerous scientific meetings. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, founding member of the Society for Melanoma Research, and peer reviewer for over 20 journals. In 2004, Dr. Riker was named one of Americas Top Surgeons in Surgical Oncology. Lastly, Dr. Riker will make his 7th trip to mainland China this year, with the goals of educating physicians about the importance of early detection and prevention of breast cancer and to teach and train surgeons in the technical aspects of breast conservation surgery and sentinel lymph node mapping.