Clifford Ko

Dr. Ko teaches in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. As a clinician, Ko is double board-certified surgeon with a practice focusing on patients with colorectal cancer. At UCLA, he is the Robert and Kelly Day Professor of Surgery, and has won the Faculty Teaching Award three times.

A cancer specialist, he is director of the Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care at the American College of Surgeons. He oversees all the quality improvement programs, including the Bariatric Surgery Accreditation Program, the Cancer Accreditation program, the Trauma Verification program, the new Surgeon Specific Registry, and the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). He also serves as the Director of ACS NSQIP.

His research is on the surgical quality of care, including quality measurement, process improvement, and quality maintenance.

Selected Publications

• O'Connell JB, Maggard MA, Liu JH, Etzioni DA, Livingston EH, Ko CY Do young colon cancer patients have worse outcomes?. World J Surg. 2004; 28(6): 558-62
• Miller JA, Rege RV, Ko CY, Livingston EH Health care access and poverty do not explain the higher esophageal cancer mortality in African Americans. Am J Surg. 2004; 188(1): 22-6
• Liu JH, Chen PW, Asch SM, Busuttil RW, Ko CY Surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma: does it improve survival?. Ann Surg Oncol. 2004; 11(3): 298-303
• Maggard MA, O'Connell JB, Lane KE, Liu JH, Etzioni DA, Ko CY Do young breast cancer patients have worse outcomes?. J Surg Res. 2003; 113(1): 109-13
• Kang H, O'Connell JB, Maggard MA, Sack J, Ko CY A 10-year outcomes evaluation of mucinous and signet-ring cell carcinoma of the colon and rectum. Diseases of the colon and rectum. 2005; 48(6): 1161-8.
• Lee JT, Ko CY Has survival improved for nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the United States?. Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery: official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. 2005; 132(2): 303-8.
• Maggard MA, Lane KE, O'Connell JB, Nanyakkara DD, Ko CY Beyond the clinical trials: how often is sentinel lymph node dissection performed for breast cancer?. Annals of surgical oncology: the official journal of the Society of Surgical Oncology. 2005; 12(1): 41-7
• Etzioni DA, Ponce NA, Babey SH, Spencer BA, Brown ER, Ko CY, Chawla N, Breen N, Klabunde CN A population-based study of colorectal cancer test use: results from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. Cancer. 2004; 101(11): 2523-32
• O'Connell JB, Maggard MA, Liu JH, Etzioni DA, Ko CY Are survival rates different for young and older patients with rectal cancer?. Diseases of the colon and rectum. 2004; 47(12): 2064-9
• O'Connell JB, Maggard MA, Ko CY Cancer-directed surgery for localized disease: decreased use in the elderly.. Annals of surgical oncology: the official journal of the Society of Surgical Oncology. . 2004; 11(11): 962-9
• O'Connell JB, Maggard MA, Ko CY Colon cancer survival rates with the new American Joint Committee on Cancer sixth edition staging. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2004; 96(19): 1420-5.
• O'Connell JB, Maggard MA, Liu JH, Etzioni DA, Ko CY A report card on outcomes for surgically treated gastrointestinal cancers: are we improving? The Journal of surgical research. 2004; 121(2): 214-21
• Otchy D, Hyman NH, Simmang C, Anthony T, Buie WD, Cataldo P, Church J, Cohen J, Dentsman F, Ellis CN, Kilkenny JW, Ko C, Moore R, Orsay C, Place R, Rafferty J, Rakinic J, Savoca P, Tjandra J, Whiteford M Practice parameters for colon cancer. Diseases of the colon and rectum. . 2004; 47(8): 1269-84
• Maggard MA, O'Connell JB, Ko CY Updated population-based review of carcinoid tumors. Annals of surgery. 2004; 240(1): 117-22
• Maggard MA, Beanes SR, Ko CY Anal canal cancer: a population-based reappraisal. Diseases of the colon and rectum. 2003; 46(11): 1517-23; discussion 1523-4; author reply 1524