Ali Duffens

Ali Duffens, MD, MPH

Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Complications of cancer
  • Symptoms and side effects

My Specialties

  • General internal medicine
  • Emergency cancer-related care
  • Inpatient care

Get to Know Me

I’m a hospitalist who cares for people who are admitted to the hospital during their cancer treatment. At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), I care for patients admitted to our partner hospital, Holy Name Medical Center in Bergen, New Jersey, managing medical problems related to cancer and its treatment.

By working closely with each patient’s oncologist at MSK, I help ensure seamless, coordinated care and serve as a bridge between the local hospital and Memorial Hospital, MSK’s main hospital.

With dual training in internal medicine and preventive medicine, I have a strong interest in cancer prevention and research focused on improving quality of life for people living with cancer.

My approach to care is rooted in treating the whole person, not just the illness. I also focus on understanding each patient’s values, goals, and overall well-being. I strive to provide thoughtful, compassionate support that helps people feel truly seen, understood, and cared for.

Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, running, and unwinding with a good book.

What I Do at MSK

I'm a hospitalist, which is a doctor with special training in caring for people in the hospital.

  • Assistant Attending Physician
Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Complications of cancer
  • Symptoms and side effects

My Specialties

  • General internal medicine
  • Emergency cancer-related care
  • Inpatient care
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, University of California Irvine School of Medicine
  • MPH, University of California Berkeley School of Public Health

Residencies

  • Internal Medicine/Preventive Medicine, Kaiser San Francisco and University of California San Francisco

Insurance Information

Understanding your insurance options is an important part of managing your cancer care. We have relationships with many common healthcare providers and plans.

Don't see your carrier or plan? We can help you understand your coverage.

If you don't have health insurance or are worried that your care may not be fully covered, our financial assistance programs may be able to help.

If you have questions about insurance, call us at 646-497-9176.

Colleagues

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.

See all Emergency Care doctors

Clinical Trials

Smiling doctors in the lab
Find a Clinical Trial for You

Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.

You may be able to participate in a clinical trial even if you are new to MSK. Search our online directory to find trial information and see more about who can participate.

Search clinical trials

Disclosures

Members of the MSK Community often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community. These activities outside of MSK further our mission, provide productive collaborations, and promote the practical application of scientific discoveries.

MSK requires doctors, faculty members, and leaders to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public. Not all disclosed interests and relationships present conflicts of interest. MSK reviews all disclosed interests and relationships to assess whether a conflict of interest exists and whether formal COI management is needed.

Ali Duffens discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

No disclosures meeting criteria for time period


If you’re a patient at MSK and would like more information about your doctor’s external relationships, please talk with your doctor.

The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.


This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2024 through disclosure submission in spring 2025). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at ecoi@mskcc.org.


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