Dr. Gary Onik, MD

Expert Publications

• Imaging methods augment liver malignancy ablation.
• Percutaneous diskectomy in the treatment of herniated lumbar disks.
• Automated percutaneous discectomy: the role of the physical therapist.
• Mechanical aspiration of hematomas in an in vitro model.
• Intracerebral biopsy hemorrhage: monitoring and intervention guided by intraoperative sonography.
• Real time ultrasonic monitoring of hepatic cryosurgery.
• Transrectal ultrasound-guided percutaneous radical cryosurgical ablation of the prostate.
• US-guided percutaneous cryoablation of prostate cancer.
• Cryosurgery of liver cancer.
• Monitoring cryosurgery in the brain and in the prostate with proton NMR.
• Ultrasound characteristics of renal cryosurgery.
• Minimally invasive disc surgery. Nucleotomy versus fragmentectomy.
• Nuances in percutaneous discectomy.

Media Releases

Get to know Radiologist Dr. Gary Onik, who serves patients in Florida.

A renowned medical doctor and brilliant inventor, Dr. Onik is the physician with the most experience in the world using the NanoKnife and is able to bring that experience along with the great breadth of his practice in tumor ablation to the treatment of recurrent prostate cancer.

Since 2013, he has been serving as the Director of The Center for Recurrent and High Risk Prostate Cancer, which is the world leader in the immunotherapy of cancer. 

The mission of The Center for Recurrent and High Risk Prostate Cancer is to offer the most advanced treatment options to men who have high risk prostate cancer or who have suffered a recurrence of their prostate cancer. 

With a broad educational background, Dr. Onik graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1974. He then went on to receive his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1978, where he earned the #1 spot in his graduating class.

While still in radiology residency training in 1982, at the University of California – San Francisco, Dr. Onik described a brand new cancer treatment concept – a radiological procedure based on the possibility of image-guided thermal tumor ablation (destruction). His new procedure demonstrated a brand new approach and novel techniques for destroying a tumor through freezing or heating and then leaving it in place to be removed by the body rather than by surgery.

This was the very first demonstration of its kind and with it, Dr. Onik literally created an entirely new field of medicine around the concept of minimally invasive cancer tumor destruction and removal by normal bodily processes, rather than through surgical removal.

In 1982, using cryosurgical ablation under ultrasound guidance, he developed the first new potentially curative treatment for unresectable liver cancer patients. This work spawned the development of image-guided radio-frequency (RF) thermal ablation of liver tumors, and subsequently the field of what is now the 4th branch of cancer treatment, called “Interventional Oncology”.

At the same time as his work on hepatic cancer ablation, Dr. Onik developed the instrumentation and techniques that allowed for the cryosurgical ablation of prostate cancer, which is now an accepted alternative to radiation and radical prostatectomy and the preferred treatment for patients with radiation-recurrent prostate cancer. His concept of “focal therapy” for prostate cancer, treating only the prostate tumor rather than the whole gland, similar to a breast lumpectomy, is now a major research and treatment initiative in all of the major prostate cancer centers in the world.

The 3D Prostate Mapping Biopsy, which he has pioneered, maps the exact location of cancer in the prostate gland allowing safer and more efficacious treatment. Likewise, in 2007, his development of “Irreversible Electroporation” (IRE), embodied in the “NanoKnife”, was the first of its kind “non-thermal” tumor ablation modality, which is now being used to successfully treat inoperable pancreatic carcinoma. 

An expert in his field, the doctor is board-certified in diagnostic radiology by the American Board of Radiology (ABR). The ABR is a not-for-profit physician-led organization that oversees the certification and ongoing professional development of specialists in diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, radiation oncology, and medical physics.

In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Onik is an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, working closely with his colleagues to develop the next generation of cancer-fighting technologies.

Radiology is a branch of medicine that uses imaging technology to diagnose and treat disease. Radiology may be divided into two different areas, diagnostic radiology and interventional radiology. Doctors who specialize in radiology are called radiologists.

Nationally and internationally, Dr. Onik has made over 200 presentations to both professional and lay audiences. He has also made appearances on national news shows to include, ABC World News tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, CNN, as well as 2 stories placed with Ivanhoe Productions that were distributed nationally reaching 84 million viewers. Print media include Time magazine, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, The Wall Street Journal and numerous other magazines and newspapers.

Having developed concepts and techniques that have had a major impact on the treatment of cancer patients throughout the world, Dr. Onik’s work has been recognized by awards given to him by major societies in both medicine and engineering.

His latest work, using immunotherapy to treat metastatic cancer, offers hope to those patients with literally no other options.

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