Karen T. Brown, MD

Dr. Brown serves as the Chief of the Interventional Radiology section in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Professor of Radiology at the University of Utah and works at both the Huntsman Cancer Center and University Hospital. For 26 years Dr. Brown was an Attending Radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she established a national as well as international reputation in the field of Interventional Oncology. She is a founding member of Society of Interventional Oncology and member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of HPB. Her primary clinical focus has been on hepatobiliary intervention, with particular interest in local/regional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). She is well known to be a proponent of using embolization with particles/microspheres alone as primary treatment for HCC and for secondary hypervascular liver tumors, including metastatic neuroendocrine tumor, as well as for benign lesions such as hepatic adenoma. Dr.Brown was the Primary Investigator on an NIH supported, prospective, randomized trial of trans-arterial treatment for HCC comparing embolization with particles/microspheres alone to embolization using chemotherapy, the results of which were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2016. Her other special interest is in biliary intervention and she has been a strong advocate for percutaneous, rather than endoscopic, intervention with primary stent placement in cases of high bile duct obstruction. Dr. Brown led the weekly hepatobiliary disease management conference at MSKCC for years and continues to attend interdisciplinary conferences in her new position at the University of Utah in order to promote image guided intervention for patients with appropriate indications. Although Dr. Brown sees herself as a clinician educator, and considers sharing her experience with others at meetings, conferences and in the interventional suite as important for the exchange of ideas and the growth and development of the field, she sees her most important role as advocating for and taking care of patients at the University and Huntsman Cancer Center.