Amy Gillis, MD

Amy Gillis, MD makes things happen. When she came to South San Francisco in 2008 there was no Radiation Oncology Department. Her job was to create a team to build a department and radiation oncology facilities from the ground up, and she did it within a year.

With an inclusive leadership style, Dr. Gillis has created a true team environment to deliver, in her words, “a great patient care experience.”

An outstanding clinician, Dr. Gillis has taken the lead in bringing cutting-edge radiation treatments to the medical center, including stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), a specialized procedure that delivers very high dose radiation to a well-defined target. Under her leadership, South San Francisco now performs the third highest volume of SRS in the United States and the ninth highest in the world.

She was the first chief at South San Francisco to implement a “stop the line” policy in which every member of the department is empowered to immediately intervene to protect patient health and safety. She now guides departments throughout the region in implementing their own “stop the line” policies.

“Dr. Gillis is a passionate and innovative leader,” says Dr. John Skerry, South San Francisco’s Physician-in-Chief. “She has built Radiation Oncology into a regional service that’s a shining star for our medical center.”