Dr. Jennifer K. Plichta

As an orthopaedic oncologist, I am passionate about providing the best diagnostic and therapeutic surgical care for patients with benign or malignant bone or soft tissue tumors of the musculoskeletal system. As the director of the Sarcoma program at the Duke Cancer Institute, my passion is building our team to provide the best clinical care and basic scientific, translational and clinical research to serve our patients. Dr. Brigman is highly rated in 29 conditions, according to our data. His top areas of expertise are Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Bone Tumor, Chondrosarcoma, Bone Graft, and Hip Replacement.

Every day, my goal is to take the best surgical care of my patients' kidney or prostate cancer by offering the most up-to-date minimally invasive surgical treatments, while making sure that their experiences and outcomes at Duke Health are top-notch! As we look at the scans together and discuss biopsy results, it is important to me that I spend all of the time that my patients and their families need to clearly understand their diagnosis as well as all treatment options, so that we can make joint decisions about next steps and their treatment plan. Many of my patients are referred from all over the country to seek highly specialized urology care, including nonsurgical focal cryotherapy for prostate cancer, robotic surgery for prostate cancer, or robotic surgical removal of their kidney tumor called a partial nephrectomy, among other treatments, with our multidisciplinary, collaborative team. I always reassure and share my positive outlook with my patients as we navigate the health system together. My patients know that, as their physician, I will be their champion and advise them and guide them through their treatment. We are in this together. Dr. Polascik is highly rated in 21 conditions, according to our data. His top areas of expertise are Prostate Cancer, Familial Prostate Cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC), Prostatectomy, and Nephrectomy.

As an orthopedic oncologist, I treat cancers of the bone and muscle. My background is very different from most doctors. I started as a veterinarian and became interested in cancer because so many dogs have cancer, and I came to medical school to learn how to treat and beat some of these types of cancer. I’m still a veterinarian, and that’s a big part of what we do here. Many cancers of the bone and muscles, called sarcomas, are rare in people, but common in dogs. So continuing to treat dogs with this type of cancer lets us and our group gain a deeper understanding of how these cancers work. With my patients, I try to find out what the cancer has taken from them, and what their goals are for how to get back in control. For some, their goal is to beat the cancer no matter what. For others, the goal is to keep walking or to be able to walk again, or to be in less pain. Then we try to tailor our approach to the patient. Often, people think being a surgical oncologist must be a terrible job. But I find something in each patient to admire, because patients dealing with cancer develop a strength the rest of us don’t get to have. Dr. Eward is highly rated in 24 conditions, according to our data. His top areas of expertise are Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Bone Tumor, Desmoid Tumor, Hip Replacement, and Bone Graft.