Nicole Villafane-Ferriol, MD

Biography

Nicole Villafane Ferriol, MD was born in Puerto Rico. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus and her medical degree at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. She completed general surgery residency at the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Villafane Ferriol was part of the academic track during residency, dedicating two additional years to research. During this time, she received a CPRIT grant to study functional genomics approaches for screening mutation drivers in pancreatic cancer and studied clinical outcomes after pancreatic surgery. Subsequently, she completed a two-year Complex General Surgical Oncology (CGSO) fellowship at Fox Chase Cancer Center-Temple University in Philadelphia.

In 2022, Dr. Villafane Ferriol was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. Her clinical and research interests include malignancies of the pancreas, biliary tract, and liver, including the surgical management of colorectal liver metastases, as well as cancer-related healthcare disparities. She belongs to various professional organizations including the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American College of Surgeons, and the Association for Academic Surgery.