Dr. José G. Guillem is an Attending Colorectal Surgeon and Director of the Hereditary Colorectal Cancer Family Registry at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  Acknowledged worldwide as an expert in familial cancer, Dr. Guillem  expertise  is in sphincter-preserving rectal cancer surgery, and in preservation of bladder and sexual function following radical rectal cancer surgery. He is trained in the utilization of minimally invasive techniques such as transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM), laparoscopy, and endoscopy.

A  giant in the field, Dr. Guillem has pioneered the first controlled, prospective study to determine the risk of colorectal neoplasms in first-degree relatives of colorectal cancer patients.  Dr. Guillem is a founding member and Past President of the American Collaborative Group for Inherited Colorectal Cancer.  He is currently Principle Investigator of a national study on early age-of-onset colorectal cancer.  His research has significantly contributed to advances in our current understanding of rectal cancer response to preoperative radiation therapy and chemotherapy, initiating the first prospective evaluation of FDG-PET as a tool in assessing tumor response to neoadjuvant treatment/combined modality therapy. 

His other research activities have focused on the mechanisms governing cancer invasion and metastasis,
as well as the prognostic significance of various molecular features expressed in human colorectal cancer. Dr. Guillem is a graduate of Yale University School of Medicine, with fellowships at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and the Lahey Clinic. Dr. Guillem has co-authored more than 200 journal articles and textbook chapters and has lectured nationally and internationally. His research is funded, in part, by NIH.  He is a Professor of Surgery at Cornell University-Weill Medial College, and Vice President of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Research Foundation.