The Duke Department of Surgery is pleased to announce that Dan G. “Trey” Blazer, III, MD, MEM, FACS, has been appointed Interim Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, effective immediately. He succeeds Peter J. Allen, MD, who was named Chair of the Department of Surgery in August 2025 after serving as Chief since 2018.
Dr. Blazer is currently Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Section of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery (HPB) in the Division of Surgical Oncology. He will continue serving in his section chief role while in the interim division chief position.
Dr. Blazer earned his medical degree from Duke University in 1999, and completed his general surgery training in 2006 at the University of Michigan. After completing fellowships in surgical oncology at the National Institutes of Health Surgery Branch in Bethesda, Maryland and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr. Blazer returned to Duke in 2008 as an assistant professor of surgery in the then-division of advanced oncologic and gastrointestinal surgery (now the Division of Surgical Oncology).
Dr. Blazer’s education work includes serving as the program director for the Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship. As a researcher, he primarily focuses on translational and outcomes research for gastrointestinal and soft tissue malignancies, and he has published more than 150 academic articles.
“Dr. Blazer is a phenomenal surgeon, researcher, educator, and colleague, and I am confident in his ability to expertly lead the Division of Surgical Oncology,” says Peter J. Allen, MD, Chair of the Department of Surgery.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Blazer on this new position.