Sean J. Mulvihill

Sean J. Mulvihill, MD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Surgery

Divisions: General Surgery

Sean Mulvihill, MD has specialized expertise in the treatment of diseases of the liver, biliary tract, and pancreas. He is board certified in general surgery. His main clinical focus is in the management of patients with pancreatic tumors, such as pancreatic adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumors. He has integrated a research program funded by the National Cancer Institute into his clinical practice, with the aim of determining the underlying cause of these cancers and identifying new treatment approaches. This knowledge is leading to improved diagnostic strategies, improved selection of treatment options, and improved outcomes.

Education History

Undergraduate University of California - Davis
 BS
Professional Medical University of Southern California
 MD
Internship University of California - Los Angeles
 Intern
Residency University of California - Los Angeles
 Resident
Postdoctoral Fellowship University of California - Los Angeles
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Residency University of California - Los Angeles
 Resident
Chief Resident University of California - Los Angeles
 Chief Resident

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Poruk KE, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ (2014). Screening for pancreatic cancer. Adv Surg, 48, 115-36.
  2. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Brooke BS, Stoddard GJ, Firpo MA, Scaife C (2020). County-level Variation in Use of Surgery and Cancer-specific Survival for Stage I-II Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Annals of surgery, 272(6), 1102-1109.
  3. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Skarda DE, Finlayson SRG, Stoddard GJ, Ott MJ, Firpo MA, Scaife C (2019). Hospital-level Variation in Utilization of Surgery for Clinical Stage I-II Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Annals of surgery, 269(1), 133-142.
  4. Stokes SM, Scaife CL, Brooke BS, Glasgow RE, Mulvihill SJ, Finlayson SRG, Varghese TK J (2020). Hospital Costs Following Surgical Complications: A Value-driven Outcomes Analysis of Cost Savings Due to Complication Prevention. Annals of surgery, 275, e375-e381.
  5. Capello M, Bantis LE, Scelo G, Zhao Y, Li P, Dhillon DS, Patel NJ, Kundnani DL, Wang H, Abbruzzese JL, Maitra A, Tempero MA, Brand R, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ, Katz MH, Brennan P, Feng Z, Taguchi A, Hanash S (2017). Sequential Validation of Blood-Based Protein Biomarker Candidates for Early-Stage Pancreatic Cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 109(4),
  6. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Brooke BS, Skarda DE, Firpo MA, Scaife C (2019). Disparities in utilization of treatment for clinical stage I-II pancreatic adenocarcinoma by area socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. Surgery, 165(4), 751-759.
  7. Sharib JM, Fonseca AL, Swords DS, Jaradeh K, Bracci PM, Firpo MA, Hatcher S, Scaife CL, Wang H, Kim GE, Mulvihill SJ, Maitra A, Koay EJ, Kirkwood K (2018). Surgical overtreatment of pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms: Do the 2017 International Consensus Guidelines improve clinical decision making?. Surgery, 164(6), 1178-1184.
  8. Swords DS, Zhang C, Presson AP, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ, Scaife C (2018). Association of time-to-surgery with outcomes in clinical stage I-II pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with upfront surgery. Surgery, 163(4), 753-760.
  9. Swords DS, Firpo MA, Johnson KM, Boucher KM, Scaife CL, Mulvihill S (2017). Implications of inaccurate clinical nodal staging in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Surgery, 162(1), 104-111.
  10. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Brooke BS, Firpo MA, Scaife C (2020). Size and Importance of Socioeconomic Status-Based Disparities in Use of Surgery in Nonadvanced Stage Gastrointestinal Cancers. Annals of surgical oncology, 27(2), 333-341.
  11. Swords DS, Francis SR, Lloyd S, Garrido-Laguna I, Mulvihill SJ, Gruhl JD, Christensen MC, Stoddard GJ, Firpo MA, Scaife C (2019). Lymph Node Ratio in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma After Preoperative Chemotherapy vs. Preoperative Chemoradiation and Its Utility in Decisions About Postoperative Chemotherapy. Journal of gastrointestinal surgery, 23(7), 1401-1413.
  12. Young EL, Thompson BA, Neklason DW, Firpo MA, Werner T, Bell R, Berger J, Fraser A, Gammon A, Koptiuch C, Kohlmann WK, Neumayer L, Goldgar DE, Mulvihill SJ, Cannon-Albright LA, Tavtigian S (2018). Pancreatic cancer as a sentinel for hereditary cancer predisposition. BMC cancer, 18(1), 697.
  13. Capello M, Vykoukal JV, Katayama H, Bantis LE, Wang H, Kundnani DL, Aguilar-Bonavides C, Aguilar M, Tripathi SC, Dhillon DS, Momin AA, Peters H, Katz MH, Alvarez H, Bernard V, Ferri-Borgogno S, Brand R, Adler DG, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ, Molldrem JJ, Feng Z, Taguchi A, Maitra A, Hanash S (2019). Exosomes harbor B cell targets in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and exert decoy function against complement-mediated cytotoxicity. Nature communications, 10(1), 254.
  14. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Firpo MA, Scaife C (2018). Causes of Death and Conditional Survival Estimates of Medium- and Long-term Survivors of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. JAMA oncology, 4(8), 1129-1130.
  15. Affolter KE, Hellwig S, Nix DA, Bronner MP, Thomas A, Fuertes CL, Hamil CL, Garrido-Laguna I, Scaife CL, Mulvihill SJ, Underhill H (2021). Detection of circulating tumor DNA without a tumor-informed search using next-generation sequencing is a prognostic biomarker in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.), 23(9), 859-869.
  16. Glasgow RE, Mulvihill SJ, Pettit JC, Young J, Smith BK, Vargo DJ, Ray DM, Finlayson SR (2021). Value Analysis of Methods of Inguinal Hernia Repair. Annals of surgery, 274(4), 572-580.
  17. Hernandez S, Parra ER, Uraoka N, Tang X, Shen Y, Qiao W, Jiang M, Zhang S, Mino B, Lu W, Pandurengan R, Haymaker C, Affolter K, Scaife CL, Yip-Schneider M, Schmidt CM, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ, Koay EJ, Wang H, Wistuba II, Maitra A, Solis LM, Sen (2022). Diminished Immune Surveillance during Histologic Progression of Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms Offers a Therapeutic Opportunity for Cancer Interception. Clinical cancer research, 28(9), 1938-1947.
  18. Firpo MA, Boucher KM, Bleicher J, Khanderao GD, Rosati A, Poruk KE, Kamal S, Marzullo L, De Marco M, Falco A, Genovese A, Adler JM, De Laurenzi V, Adler DG, Affolter KE, Garrido-Laguna I, Scaife CL, Turco MC, Mulvihill S (2023). Multianalyte Serum Biomarker Panel for Early Detection of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. JCO clinical cancer informatics, 7, e2200160.
  19. Wattenberg MM, Colby S, Garrido-Laguna I, Xue Y, Chang R, Delman D, Lee J, Affolter K, Mulvihill SJ, Beg MS, Wang-Gillam A, Wade JL 3rd, Guthrie KA, Chiorean EG, Ahmad SA, Lowy AM, Philip PA, Sohal DPS, Beatty G (2024). Intratumoral Cell Neighborhoods Coordinate Outcomes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Gastroenterology, 166(6), 1114-1129.

Case Report

  1. Bleicher J, Lombardo S, Carbine S, Kapitonov D, Pletneva MA, Mulvihill S (2019). Adrenocorticotropin Hormone Secreting Carcinoma of the Pancreas: A Case Report. Journal of pancreatic cancer, 5(1), 22-25.