Sean J. Mulvihill

Sean J. Mulvihill, MD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Emeritus - Surgery

Divisions: General Surgery

Research Interests

  • Pancreatic Cancer
  • Clinical Trials in Pancreatic Disease
  • Quality of Health Care
  • Education, Professional, Retraining
  • Gastrointestinal Physiology

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

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

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. 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 GL (2024). Intratumoral Cell Neighborhoods Coordinate Outcomes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Gastroenterology, 166(6), 1114-1129. (Read full article)
  2. 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 SJ (2023). Multianalyte Serum Biomarker Panel for Early Detection of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. JCO Clin Cancer Inform, 7, e2200160. (Read full article)
  3. 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 S (2021). Diminished Immune Surveillance during Histologic Progression of Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms Offers a Therapeutic Opportunity for Cancer Interception. Clin Cancer Res, 28(9), 1938-1947. (Read full article)
  4. Glasgow RE, Mulvihill SJ, Pettit JC, Young J, Smith BK, Vargo DJ, Ray DM, Finlayson SRG (2021). Value Analysis of Methods of Inguinal Hernia Repair. Ann Surg, 274(4), 572-580. (Read full article)
  5. Affolter KE, Hellwig S, Nix DA, Bronner MP, Thomas A, Fuertes CL, Hamil CL, Garrido-Laguna I, Scaife CL, Mulvihill SJ, Underhill HR (2021). Detection of circulating tumor DNA without a tumor-informed search using next-generation sequencing is a prognostic biomarker in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Neoplasia, 23(9), 859-869. (Read full article)
  6. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Brooke BS, Stoddard GJ, Firpo MA, Scaife CL (2019). County-level Variation in Use of Surgery and Cancer-specific Survival for Stage I-II Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Ann Surg, 272(6), 1102-1109. (Read full article)
  7. Stokes SM, Scaife CL, Brooke BS, Glasgow RE, Mulvihill SJ, Finlayson SRG, Varghese TK Jr (2020). Hospital Costs Following Surgical Complications: A Value-driven Outcomes Analysis of Cost Savings Due to Complication Prevention. Ann Surg, 275, e375-e381. (Read full article)
  8. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Brooke BS, Firpo MA, Scaife CL (2019). Size and Importance of Socioeconomic Status-Based Disparities in Use of Surgery in Nonadvanced Stage Gastrointestinal Cancers. Ann Surg Oncol, 27(2), 333-341. (Read full article)
  9. Swords DS, Francis SR, Lloyd S, Garrido-Laguna I, Mulvihill SJ, Gruhl JD, Christensen MC, Stoddard GJ, Firpo MA, Scaife CL (2018). Lymph Node Ratio in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma After Preoperative Chemotherapy vs. Preoperative Chemoradiation and Its Utility in Decisions About Postoperative Chemotherapy. J Gastrointest Surg, 23(7), 1401-1413. (Read full article)
  10. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Brooke BS, Skarda DE, Firpo MA, Scaife CL (2018). Disparities in utilization of treatment for clinical stage I-II pancreatic adenocarcinoma by area socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. Surgery, 165(4), 751-759. (Read full article)
  11. 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 SM (2019). Exosomes harbor B cell targets in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and exert decoy function against complement-mediated cytotoxicity. Nat Commun, 10(1), 254. (Read full article)
  12. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Skarda DE, Finlayson SRG, Stoddard GJ, Ott MJ, Firpo MA, Scaife CL (2017). Hospital-level Variation in Utilization of Surgery for Clinical Stage I-II Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. Ann Surg, 269(1), 133-142. (Read full article)
  13. 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 KS (2018). Surgical overtreatment of pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms: Do the 2017 International Consensus Guidelines improve clinical decision making? Surgery, 164(6), 1178-1184. (Read full article)
  14. Swords DS, Mulvihill SJ, Firpo MA, Scaife CL (2018). Causes of Death and Conditional Survival Estimates of Medium- and Long-term Survivors of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. JAMA Oncol, 4(8), 1129-1130. (Read full article)
  15. 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 SV (2018). Pancreatic cancer as a sentinel for hereditary cancer predisposition. BMC Cancer, 18(1), 697. (Read full article)
  16. Swords DS, Zhang C, Presson AP, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ, Scaife CL (2017). Association of time-to-surgery with outcomes in clinical stage I-II pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with upfront surgery. Surgery, 163(4), 753-760. (Read full article)
  17. Swords DS, Firpo MA, Johnson KM, Boucher KM, Scaife CL, Mulvihill SJ (2017). Implications of inaccurate clinical nodal staging in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Surgery, 162(1), 104-111. (Read full article)
  18. 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 SM (2016). Sequential Validation of Blood-Based Protein Biomarker Candidates for Early-Stage Pancreatic Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst, 109(4). (Read full article)
  19. Poruk KE, Firpo MA, Mulvihill SJ (2014). Screening for pancreatic cancer. Adv Surg, 48, 115-36. (Read full article)

Case Report

  1. Bleicher J, Lombardo S, Carbine S, Kapitonov D, Pletneva MA, Mulvihill SJ (2019). Adrenocorticotropin Hormone Secreting Carcinoma of the Pancreas: A Case Report. J Pancreat Cancer, 5(1), 22-25. (Read full article)