Fabian M. Johnston

FABIAN M. JOHNSTON, M.D., M.H.S., is the Division Chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology in the Johns Hopkins Department of Surgery where he leads the clinical and academic development of the surgical programs for gastric cancer, sarcoma, and peritoneal surface malignancy. He is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology and also serves as Director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program and Director of the Complex General Surgical Oncology Program.

Dr. Johnston received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and medical degree from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He completed residences between the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed his complex general surgical oncology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University where he also earned a Masters in Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and a certificate in Patient Safety and Quality through the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. He was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery in 2018 after joining the faculty in 2016.

Dr. Johnston’s areas of clinical expertise include colorectal cancer, cytoreductive surgery, gastric cancer, gastroesophageal cancer, gastrointestinal cancers and tumors, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), neuroendocrine tumors, pancreatic cancer, and sarcoma. He is a recognized national expert in peritoneal surface malignancies and soft tissue sarcoma with membership in multiple national and international organizations. He is active nationally in multiple organizations with leadership positions as well including the Association for Academic Surgery, Society for Surgical Oncology, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, Regional Therapies, and American College of Surgeons Committee for Surgical Palliative Care.

Dr. Johnston leads an active research group. His interests include utilization of highly innovative and novel strategies for the implementation of patient-centered models of care to improve utilization of palliative care amongst patients with advanced gastrointestinal malignancies. Through this he hopes to advance effective palliative care to lessen suffering in vulnerable oncology patients and families, while simultaneously leading improvement of health care quality, costs, experiences and outcomes. He is the current recipient of and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Centered Outcome Mentored Research K08 award and has authored over 80 publications with seven book chapters.