Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital Expands Cancer Care
Head & neck, thoracic surgery services now available in West Orange County
Orlando, FL (January 20, 2025) – Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital is continuing to bring specialized health services to the community with the addition of new surgeons who are seeing patients inside the hospital’s oncology suite. The cancer program was initially launched with colorectal cancer services last year in partnership with the Orlando Health Cancer Institute, bringing cancer care closer to home for people in West Orange County.
Head and Neck Cancer
Eric Wu, MD is a fellowship-trained head and neck surgical oncologist and reconstructive surgeon with the Orlando Health Cancer Institute. His expertise includes oral cavity, oropharynx and larynx cancer, thyroid cancer, head and neck skin cancer and salivary gland tumors. He’s experienced in transoral robotic surgery, which allows him to treat tumors in the throat through the mouth. He’s also trained in microvascular reconstruction and free tissue transfer, to provide aesthetic relief to patients who have defects from tumor removal in the head and neck area.
Dr. Wu received his bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his master’s degree in
medical sciences from Boston University. He earned his medical degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, where he also received a master’s in clinical anatomy. He completed his residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and his fellowship in advanced head and neck oncologic and microvascular reconstructive surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Wu is based at Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital.
Thoracic Surgery
Christopher Bariana, DO, is a board-certified thoracic surgeon with the Orlando Health Cancer Institute. He’s been practicing for more than a decade and provides care to patients who need esophageal and upper gastrointestinal surgery, gastroesophageal reflux disease surgery and lung and tracheal resections. He utilizes minimally invasive and robotic surgery techniques to provide the best outcomes for his patients. Dr. Bariana also has expertise in lung cancer screening and lung cancer programs, and interventional endoscopy.
Before joining Orlando Health, Dr. Bariana held a variety of positions including acute care surgeon, thoracic and foregut surgeon and medical director of robotic thoracic surgery at facilities in Delaware, New Jersey and Florida. He earned his medical degree at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic
Medicine and completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Bariana completed fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, where he was chief cardiothoracic fellow, and in minimally invasive surgery at Greenville Medical Center in South Carolina.
Dr. Bariana is seeing patients at Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital and Orlando Health South Lake Hospital.
About Orlando Health
Orlando Health is a private not-for-profit, integrated academic healthcare system with $12 billion of assets under management, that serves the southeastern United States – including Florida and Alabama – and Puerto Rico. With corporate offices in Orlando, Florida the system provides a complete continuum of care across a network of medical centers and institutes, community and specialty hospitals, physician practices, urgent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare, and long-term and behavioral health care services. Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health’s mission is to improve the health and the quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve. The system provided nearly $1.7 billion in community impact in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 23, the most recent period for which the information is available. For more information, visit orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter.)