About

About Me

Neil Sharma MD | Physician and Healthcare Executive Leader

Neil R. Sharma MD, President of Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is ranked among America’s finest GIs, oncologists, and endoscopists. He is a community leader dedicated to the health of his patients and advancing the science of medicine. He is a licensed specialist and board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Sharma also has additional fellowship training in interventional endoscopy focusing on GI malignancies and complex minimally invasive surgical procedures. Sharma has also authored numerous academic, administrative, and educational publications.

Aside from caring for his patients, Sharma stays involved with speaking engagements, volunteering, research, and helping healthcare leaders make better decisions faster. Under his guidance and leadership, medical professionals can better provide superior patient care, synthesize a constant inundation of data, make informed decisions about healthcare impasses, and are aligned in healthcare delivery models that facilitate best practices, care optimization, operational efficiency, and a world-class patient experience.

Dr. Sharma earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF) at the H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center & Research Institute. Serving as the Chief Resident, Dr. Sharma received numerous accolades for his teaching and training. While at USF, he completed fellowship training in gastroenterology and hepatology. His additional fellowship training with a focus on advanced interventional endoscopy & endoscopic oncology was pursued at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Developing Novel Healthcare Models

Neil R. Sharma MD specializes in innovating novel healthcare models that leverage multidisciplinary care in complex and highly matrixed healthcare systems.

He asserts, “Healthcare is an essential service as well as a business. The most effective leaders are not only considerate and intentional, but they are also risk-takers who step outside of their comfort zones and experiment with new techniques and protocols. It's important to evaluate innovative ideas, approaches, technologies, and processes, instead of always reverting to the old standards.”

Optimizing Patient-Centered Care

His focus on the multidisciplinary care model is balanced by his desire to refine and discover the optimal patient experience. Dr. Sharma has focused on redesigning the healthcare delivery model to a patient-centered approach while also incorporating best practices, data from current research, the latest technology, and operational optimization. His care model focuses on providing personalized care with open patient/doctor communication surrounding patients and their families with the appropriate psychosocial, rehab, and other mental health/wellness support which is often overlooked and empowering patients to better manage their own symptoms in the long term.

Practice areas that Dr. Sharma counts as his areas of expertise and research focus are Barrett’s esophagus, esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, pancreatic cysts, gastric cancer, bile duct cancers and disorders, and minimally invasive endoscopic surgical procedures such as ERCP, EUS, ESD, and other endoscopic resections & ablations.

Dr. Sharma brought his expertise to Fort Wayne, IN, and established the Advanced Interventional Endoscopy and Endoscopic Oncology programs at Parkview Health in 2013. Now referred to as “IOSE” (Interventional Endoscopy, Oncology & Surgical Endoscopy programs) - he continues to serve as the program director and has taken the program to new volumes and national prominence.

He became the medical director for GI Oncology in 2014. His programs are innovative in design and dedicated to the state-of-the-art care that patients deserve.

As the Medical Director for the GI Oncology program, the program has undergone exponential growth and worked with physicians from Indiana University and throughout the region. It has developed research and fostered multidisciplinary care initiatives. Dr. Sharma has initiated medical trials, added innovative surgical procedures, and designed patient-focused, multidisciplinary care. During this period, Dr. Sharma has also developed the universal presentation for all patients through tumor board for foregut GI cancers to advance and ensure true multidisciplinary care. It was in 2014 that he initiated the first patient and disease-centered clinic at Parkview where multiple specialists saw a patient in a clinic at the same time.

Committed to advancing medical science, Dr. Sharma has served on the Indiana University School of Medicine faculty & serves as a fellowship director for Parkview Health. He lectures and presents nationally, has served on the faculties of various conferences, and served on the National Practice Management Committee for the American College of Gastroenterology. He is also a respected member of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American Gastroenterology Association, American College of Physicians, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is also on the Indiana state board for the American Cancer Society.

His commitment to advancing medical education and innovation has resulted in the founding of a fellowship training program for advanced interventional endoscopy. The program is a participant in a national match and trains future leaders in the burgeoning field of interventional endoscopy. Dr. Sharma founded it in 2016. The program has graduated multiple fellows and they have gone on to have successful careers in a variety of universities and hospital settings.

Also, in 2016, Dr. Sharma assumed the role of President of Parkview Cancer Institute. The state-of-the-art institute is nationally recognized as a destination cancer program that provides the finest of patient-centered care to its patients. Dr. Sharma has helped develop a team of physicians and administrative leaders who are aligned in their commitment to elevate cancer care throughout northern Indiana and the midwest. The commitment to innovation and best practices has brought the best ideas from the nation’s leading cancer centers to Parkview. Under his leadership, Parkview combines innovative technologies, a revolutionary care delivery model, and world-class healing spaces that are smarter and built around patient needs.

As a leader, Dr. Sharma’s core purpose is to use his passion and analytical, organized, innovative thinking to bring stakeholders together to co-create and build novel solutions to attain objectives and outcomes that improve the health and success of others. Dr. Sharma believes an individual is only as successful as the team they build and collaborate with.

At the Parkview Cancer Institute, a collaboration with the Parkview Research Center has resulted in clinical trials for many different forms of cancer. These disease types include breast cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancers, gynecological cancer, head and neck cancer, hematology, skin cancers, and even COVID and cancer, to name a few. The commitment to research directly reflects Dr. Sharma’s leadership and commitment to advancing science in order to decrease the burden on patients. He continues to develop investigator-initiated trials, train others on research, publish papers, and work closely with other colleagues on collaborative studies.

With 13,000 employees, non-profit Parkview Health is the largest employer in northeast Indiana and the northwest Ohio region. It was founded in 1995 and has a network of nine hospitals and a network of physicians.

A prolific volunteer committed to advancing his community and growing medical education, he volunteers at independent schools and works with medical students. He counts among his most proud accomplishments his advancement of education and mentorship through the advanced endoscopy fellowship, his research, the development and leadership of the Parkview Cancer Institute, and the establishment of the Interventional Endoscopy program at Parkview Health.

Dr. Sharma has worked with various charitable causes throughout Indiana and considers himself fortunate to have built a life in the state of Indiana and the greater Fort Wayne area. His dedication to advancing medical knowledge has made Fort Wayne a premier destination for both those seeking treatment and for medical researchers in cancer, GI, and endoscopy. His continued volunteerism with the Indiana University School of Medicine & various medical societies is creating future leaders in medical research and his institution a leader in medical education.

Dr. Sharma is committed to the future of Endoscopy, Gi & cancer care, and the development of new treatments and patient-centered treatment approaches. He is excited for the day that cancer can be defeated. His future plans include more clinical trials and research, developing and mentoring fellows and other healthcare leaders, continuing to educate and serve as President of the Parkview Cancer Institute, and elevating the status of his region and his Institution as a leader in value, innovation, and the highest quality patient-centered care.

Neil Sharma MD is happily occupied educating, mentoring, thinking creatively, redefining the status quo, and creating integrated, value-based care models that are economically sound for health systems and placing patients first. He believes strongly in developing the next generation of healthcare executive leaders to enhance the evolution of the field of medicine.

You may find Dr. Sharma on Twitter discussing his cancer research and treatment and educating others. Additionally, Dr. Sharma can be found on LinkedIn.