Dr. Peter J. Allen is Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology Division at Duke University. He also serves as the Chief of Surgery at the Duke Cancer Institute.

He is originally from the state of Maine, received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and his medical degree from Dartmouth. Dr Allen performed his general surgical residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., and performed both research and clinical fellowships at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Following his training, he returned to Walter Reed where he practiced general surgical oncology. During his time as a surgical attending at Walter Reed, Dr. Allen was deployed to Iraq where he spent one year as a surgeon on a forward surgical team and was awarded the combat medical badge. Dr. Allen was recruite4d to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 2003, and for 13 years he led the surgical efforts in the treatment of neoplastic diseases of the pancreas. During his time at Sloan Kettering, Dr. Allen held the Murray F Brennan Chair in Surgery and served as the Vice Chair for Surgical Services and the Associate Director for Clinical programs in the Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Research.

Dr. Allen joined the Duke team in 2018 as the chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, and the Chief of Surgery in the Duke Cancer Institute. His clinical and research efforts have been focused on the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to invasive and pre-invasive lesions of the pancreas, with a particular focus on intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms. His research has been funded by numerous organizations and he has maintained NIH funding since 2009.