Andrew J. Holcomb, MD

Whether treating patients at Methodist Health System or abroad on medical mission trips, Andrew Holcomb, MD, considers it an honor to care for others.

"When you come to understand how the body works, how we speak, how we hear and how we breathe, you really understand what a miracle life is," said Dr. Holcomb, a surgeon with the Head and Neck Surgical Oncology Clinic at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center. "To be involved with helping to preserve the functions of life is really an amazing thing."

Dr. Holcomb specializes in treating benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck, including thyroid or parathyroid tumors, mouth and throat cancer, skin cancer, salivary gland tumors, and tumors of the sinuses and skull base. He has training in head and neck reconstruction, as well as robotic surgery, which is often used to treat tumors associated with human papillomavirus (HPV).

A Virginia native, he completed his undergraduate work at the University of Florida and earned a master's degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He attended medical school at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk and completed his residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. He completed a fellowship in head and neck oncology, skull base, and microvascular reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital in Boston.

Dr. Holcomb believes it's important to give back to others in need, and he's taken mission trips to several countries, including Rwanda and Honduras. Among the valuable lessons he's learned is that each patient has their own unique background, values and needs.

"When I meet a patient, it's really important to me to get to know them as a person," he said. "We're about to embark on the journey of treating cancer together, and there will sometimes be bumps in the road. So establishing a trusting relationship where we really understand each other is very important to me."

Dr. Holcomb is married to a native Iowan. "We really love being a part of the Omaha community," he said.