Patrick Michael Dillon, MD
Medical Oncology
Additional Locations
Bio & Overview
Patrick Dillon, MD, was born in Charleston, SC and attended Furman University where he majored in biochemistry. He completed medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Both his internship and residency training were at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. His oncology fellowship training was completed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During his fellowship training, Dillon pursued research into mouse models of human cancer, cell signaling, chemotherapy drug delivery and chemotherapy effects on measures of cellular aging. He also pursued markers of immune privilege in a melanoma cell line. He led three clinical trials while at the University of North Carolina and was trained in clinical trial design.
Dillon specializes in the treatment of breast and skin cancers. His current research focuses on immune modulation for treatment of human cancers. He also leads clinical trials of chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of breast cancer. He promotes cancer survivorship issues and takes an interest in early and late term side effects of cancer treatments.
In his spare time, Dillon enjoys running, hiking, biking and traveling. His wife is an allergist in Charlottesville.
Academic Information
- Department
- Medicine
- Academic Role
- Professor
- Division
- Hematology/Oncology
- Research Interests
- Clinical trials development in breast cancer|Cancer immunotherapy|Cancer survivorship improvement|Cancer and aging.
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
- Residency
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- Fellowships
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
- Certification
- American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology)
Highlights
Dr. Patrick Dillon video profile
My name is Patrick Dillon, and I work at the University of Virginia in the breast center, and I take care of cancers of the breast. What I primarily focus on is part of a multi-disciplinary team is that I do endocrine therapies, chemotherapies, and some investigational immunotherapies for breast cancer. I think I've always been drawn to oncology because of a lot of family members of mine who have been afflicted by cancer. And then also as a researcher, I've always been really intrigued with the idea that if we combine the right drugs or the right treatments, we might be able to alter the course of cancer and perhaps find cures for cancer one day. So anybody coming to the cancer center for the first time is going to meet a multi-disciplinary team, meaning that they're going to meet a breast surgeon as well as a radiologist, likely including a geneticist, and eventually involving me as a medical oncologist, who deals with the endocrine therapies and the chemotherapies. But we do that as a team. And as an additional important part of the team, there's also going to be dieticians. There's going to be chaplains. There's social workers. So we all work together to try and get people through this long, sometimes arduous process that is the journey of cancer. I guess what really fulfills me about being a doctor is that I get a chance to see patients at their worst sometimes, and then through the course of therapy, I then get to see them at their very best at the end of the journey, and all the way through that, I get to know their family. I get to know what challenges are facing them, and I get to know them beyond just their diagnosis. I get to know them as a person. That, to me, is really fulfilling.
Awards
- 2019 Department of Medicine Excellence in Research
- 2013-2020 Best Doctors in America® List
- 2015 Bedside Manner Award, Our Health Magazine; First place
Reviews
371 Patient Satisfaction Ratings
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