Robert Andtbacka

Robert Andtbacka, MD, CM, FACS, FRCSC is an internationally renowned, board certified surgeon, tenured professor of surgical oncology and researcher. Before joining the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah in 2006, he completed a 3-year fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received his medical degree and training in general surgery at McGill University.

At HCI, Dr. Andtbacka specialized in surgery for melanoma, skin cancer, and soft tissue sarcomas. He established an internationally recognized comprehensive surgical and clinical research program, resulting in National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for developing novel imaging methods to detect lymphatic spread of cancer cells and to determine tumor margins. Dr. Andtbacka was instrumental in the melanoma practice changing Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial II (MSLT-II). He has been the principal investigator in over 30 investigator-initiated, institutional, and multi-institutional clinical trials. He is a world leader in novel intratumoral oncolytic immunotherapies and was the lead investigator on the OPTiM Phase III clinical trial, which lead to the FDA approval of talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) in patient with unresectable metastatic melanoma. Dr. Andtbacka has presented his research at over 100 national and international meetings and has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, 4 book chapters, and over 50 webinars and podcasts.

Dr. Andtbacka served on the Melanoma Committee for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and as the Utah State Chair for the Commission on Cancer. He was the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Clinical Research at Vestan Medical Imaging, where he led the clinical development of fluorescent sentinel lymph node imaging in patients with melanoma and breast cancer. Dr. Andtbacka is currently the Chief Medical Officer at Seven and Eight Biopharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focusing on developing immuno-oncology therapies.