Jeffrey Pollak, MD
Robert I. White, Jr. Professor of Radiology and Biomedical ImagingCards
About
Titles
Robert I. White, Jr. Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
Director, Yale Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Program; Director, Vascular and Interventional Radiology Fellowship Program
Biography
Dr. Pollak went to medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and subsequently did his Diagnostic Radiology residency at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. His fellowship in Vascular & Interventional Radiology was at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He then joined the Yale University School of Medicine Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging in the section of V&IR and served as the section chief and director of the fellowship program in this sub-specialty for over two decades. While active in all aspects of vascular & interventional radiology, his current major interests are embolotherapy (embolization), including for acquired and congenital vascular abnormalities and malformations (other than in the brain), fibroids, and malignancies, as well as other minimally invasive treatments for tumors, including local ablation. In addition, he is an expert in vascular procedures in the liver, such as intrahepatic portosystemic shunts and venous procedures, such as inferior vena cava filters.
Dr. Pollak is the current director of the multidisciplinary Yale Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Program, which was started as the first of its kind in the world in the early 1990s. As such, he has extensive experience in the evaluation and management of patients with this genetic disorder, with particular expertise in embolization of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, which frequently occur in this population. Dr. Pollak is also the co-director of the Yale Pulmonary Embolism Response Team, a multidisciplinary group of physicians interested in the advancement of the management of patients with this condition, especially those with more severe manifestations.
Appointments
Radiology & Biomedical Imaging
ProfessorPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Hemangioma Program
- Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) Program
- HHT & Vascular Malformation Program
- Kidney Disease & Transplant Program
- Liver Cancer Program
- Pancreatic Diseases Program
- Radiology & Biomedical Imaging
- Smilow Interventional Oncology Program
- Specialty Programs
- Transplant & Renovascular Disease
- Vascular & Interventional Radiology
- Vascular Anomalies Program
- Vascular Malformation Group
- Vascular Malformations, Anomalies, and HHT
- Yale Cancer Center
- Yale Medicine
- Yale Ventures
Education & Training
- Fellow
- University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA (1989)
- Resident
- Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (1988)
- MD
- Columbia University Coll of Physicians & Surgeons (1983)
- BA
- Columbia University (1979)
Research
Clinical Care
Overview
Jeffrey Pollak, MD, is a vascular and interventional radiologist who specializes in the minimally invasive treatment of blood vessel abnormalities (including occlusions and abnormally developed vessels) and of tumors.
While active in all aspects of vascular and interventional radiology, Dr. Pollak’s current major interests are embolotherapy (embolization) for acquired and congenital vascular abnormalities and malformations (other than in the brain), fibroids, and malignancies, as well as other minimally invasive treatments for tumors, such as local ablation, particularly in the liver and kidney.
“For smaller and more limited tumors, the preferred method is local ablation. The second method is the delivery of material through the liver artery supplying the tumor to injure and destroy it,” Dr. Pollak explains. “The injected material commonly consists of concentrated chemotherapy mixed with other material, usually special plastic beads, but also may consist of special radiation-emitting beads to create internal radiation therapy.”
Dr. Pollak, who says he mixes honesty with humor to reassure patients and make them feel comfortable, is an expert in vascular procedures in the liver, such as intrahepatic portosystemic shunts and venous procedures, including inferior vena cava filters and opening blocked veins.
Dr. Pollak is the director of the multidisciplinary Yale Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Program, which was started as the first of its kind in the world in the early 1990s. As such, he has extensive experience in the evaluation and management of patients with this genetic disorder, with particular expertise in embolization of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, which frequently occur in this population.
Additionally, he is the co-director of the Yale Pulmonary Embolism Response Team, a group of physicians interested in the advancement of the management of patients with this condition, especially those with more severe manifestations.
Clinical Specialties
Fact Sheets
Vascular Malformation Imaging
Learn More on Yale MedicineHereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT)
Learn More on Yale MedicineVascular Malformations
Learn More on Yale MedicineUterine Fibroid Embolization
Learn More on Yale Medicine
Yale Medicine News
Links & Media
News
- May 01, 2023
Connecticut Magazine’s 2023 “Top Doctors” issue recognizes 81 Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center physicians
- May 03, 2022
Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital physicians recognized as Connecticut Magazine 'Best Doctors'
- August 11, 2021
Discoveries & Impact (August 2021)
- June 02, 2021
Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital physicians recognized as Connecticut Magazine 'Best Doctors'