Specialties
- Cancer Surgery
- Pancreas Cancer
- Stomach Cancer
- Robotic Surgery
- Minimally Invasive Surgery
- Hepatobiliary Surgery
- Peritoneal Surface Malignancy
Syed Nabeel Zafar, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
- Division of Surgical Oncology
zafars@surgery.wisc.edu
(608) 262-2025
Education
- Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Aga Khan University Medical College
- Master of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- General Surgery Residency, Howard University Hospital
- Advanced GI and Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship, University of Maryland Medical Center
- Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Clinical Specialties
Dr Zafar is fellowship trained in both Minimally Invasive Surgery and in Cancer Surgery. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Medical Quality. Dr Zafar is an active member of several professional societies including the Association of Academic Surgeons, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American College of Surgeons, and the Association of Global Academic Surgeons.
His clinical focus is in gastrointestinal malignancies and especially laparoscopic and Robotic approached to cancer surgery. Dr Zafar specializes in malignant disease of the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, stomach, small intestine, neuroendocrine tumors, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, retroperitoneal sarcoma and in peritoneal surface malignancies including cytoreductive and HIPEC procedures.
Research Interests
Dr. Zafar conducts health services research and research on global oncology/global surgery. He analyzes large datasets to study outcomes after cancer surgery, as well as disparities in outcomes after surgical care. His research also focuses on improving cancer care delivery and cancer surgery in low-and middle-income countries.
Dr. Zafar was awarded a two-year, $311,000 pilot grant from the Department of Defense Pancreatic Cancer Research Program. Read more here.
Dr. Zafar was awarded a 3-year, $120,000 grant from the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment to support work he is doing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Read more here.
Dr. Zafar and Dr. Murtaza were awarded a $50,000 Translational basic and Clinical Research Pilot Award from the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and the UW Carbone Cancer Center. Read more here.
Dr. Zafar received a one-year, $60,000 Institutional Research Grant from the American Cancer Society and the UW Carbone Cancer Center. Read more here.
Recent Publications
Survival Following Colorectal Cancer Surgery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Afolaranmi O, Diehl TM, Salim Virani S, Yang Q, Christensen L, Okwunze K, Khan AH, Akhlaq Mughal N, Schroeder D, Pourdashti S, Khan S, Zafar SN
J Surg Oncol 2026 Mar 15;
[PubMed ID: 41834407]Assessing the Evidence for Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Resectable Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Using the Robustness of Inference to Replacement.
Cher BAY, Lin Q, Frank KA, Weber SM, Minter RM, Balentine CJ, Zafar SN
Ann Surg Oncol 2026 Mar 12;
[PubMed ID: 41817933]Characterizing Social Determinants of Health in GI Cancer Surgery: Insights From the All of Us Research Program.
Al Rubaye MZ, Ahmed KS, Issaka SM, Ali MM, Cher BA, Awan AH, Owusu-Brackett N, Weber SM, Zafar SN
Cancer Rep (Hoboken) 2026 Mar; 9(3): e70518
[PubMed ID: 41856922]Unmasking inequalities in gastrointestinal cancer outcomes among Asian American subpopulations.
Wang CC, Ali D, Habib DRS, Shou M, Sun K, Rogers JL, Eng C, Magge D, Zafar SN, Khan A
Sci Rep 2026 Feb 11; 16(1)
[PubMed ID: 41673032]Liver hypertrophy post-Yttrium-90 versus portal vein embolization: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Virani SS, Ahmed KS, Mahmud O, Saqib S, Khan MA, Christensen L, Zafar SN
Ann Hepatobiliary Pancreat Surg 2026 Feb 28; 30(1): 35-41
[PubMed ID: 41611446]