Dr. Howard A. Reber was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, where he also received his medical education and surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical and research interests in pancreatic cancer and other pancreatic diseases date to that time. Since he finished his formal education in 1970, he has held academic appointments in a number of institutions including the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Missouri in Colombia, and the University of California at Los Angeles. At UCLA, he is Professor of Surgery, Chief of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Director of the Ronald S. Hirshberg Pancreatic Cancer Research Laboratory.

Dr. Reber has an international reputation and is an acknowledged authority in pancreatic physiology and disease. He is widely sought after as a lecturer and visiting professor. He has written and edited a number of major textbooks and chapters on pancreatic diseases, especially pancreatic cancer. He is a coauthor of the current state of the art recommendations for the diagnosis and management of pancreatic cancer in the United States (Di Magno E, Reber HA, Tempero M. America Gastroenterological Association Medical Position Statement: Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and AGA Technical Review. Gastroenterology 1999;117:1463-1484). His research publications are in excess of 400 articles, abstracts and chapters. He is a past president of the American Pancreatic Association and currently serves as its Executive Secretary and Treasurer. And he is the CoChair (with John Cameron, MD) of the Pancreas Section of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group.