Armando Elario Giuliano is a surgical oncologist, surgeon scientist and medical professor in Los Angeles, California, United States of America.

[4] During residency, Giuliano was recommended by the Chief of Surgery at UCSF, F. William Blaisdell, to pursue a research fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles with Donald Morton.

[3] He inherited the idea of sentinel node biopsy from his mentor Morton in early 1990s, who at that time was using the technique for skin melanoma management.

[7] The standard of care for breast cancer surgery at that time was to remove all of the axillary lymph nodes, which is a highly morbid procedure resulting in complications such as lymphedema, chronic pain, swelling and immobility of the upper extremity.

[8] Giuliano and his then clinical fellow, Daniel Kirgan, brainstormed several experiments to test the applicability of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer.

[4][9] This led to experiments that generated data that were ultimately published in Giuliano's paper pioneering the technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer.

[6] This paper was followed by numerous other studies, including The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Trial B-32 (NSABP B-32 trial) showing that if the sentinel lymph node is negative, formal axillary lymph node dissection can be safely avoided.