As key members of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s disease management teams, physicians in the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology collaborate with other medical specialists to customize each patient’s treatment based on his or her individual disease. Many of our members are nationally and internationally recognized as leaders in their fields, including those who serve as heads of professional organizations and as editors of leading specialty journals.
Our division is led by Luis Diaz, Jr., MD.
Our Breast Medicine Service is the leading breast cancer group in New York and one of the finest in the world. Our advances in research and treatment have resulted in the current standard of care for many breast cancer types and stages. We’ve also been leaders in the development of treatments such as trastuzumab (Herceptin®) and dose-dense chemotherapy programs, improving the options available for women across the United States and around the world.
Our Head and Neck Oncology Service has changed the way cancers of the head and neck are treated. Our contributions to the field include helping to define the role of larynx preservation and, more recently, expanding the treatment options available to thyroid cancer patients. The group commonly manages rare cancers such as salivary gland tumors and anaplastic thyroid cancers.
The Gastrointestinal Oncology Service has more than a dozen subspecialists, each focused on a single malignancy of the GI tract, including esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, liver, and colon cancer. Our faculty regularly treat rare diseases such as carcinoid neuroendocrine tumors and tumors of the gallbladder. New drug development programs, treatment approaches for cancers of unknown origin, and our intrahepatic chemotherapy program are all part of the team’s broad palette of expertise.
The Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service is the largest in the United States. The group is a leader in vaccines, immunotherapy, and new drug development for gynecologic malignancies. We provide care for patients with uterine sarcomas and trophoblastic disease, as well as ovarian, tubal, endometrial, and cervical cancers.
The Genitourinary Oncology Service treats a wide spectrum of cancers — including those of the testes, kidney, bladder, and prostate — and has set national standards of care. Along with just a handful of others in the United States, our team helped to make testicular cancer into a highly curable malignancy and now leads the way in addressing survivorship issues. Our kidney cancer experts have led or co-led the development of every approved drug for that disease and continue to work on new and better treatments. Our bladder cancer team has pioneered new chemotherapy treatments and genetic studies. Our prostate cancer program includes nationally recognized experts in biomarker development and use and has led the way in the development and approval of both enzalutamide and abiraterone, changing the face of treatment for men with the disease.
The Melanoma Service is made up of five super-specialized medical oncologists with broad expertise in the treatment of melanoma in all its forms. The melanoma group has pioneered the development of immunotherapies such as ipilimumab and small-molecule targeted therapies such as vemurafenib. No other area in the field of oncology is moving faster than the treatment of melanoma, and our team has written and directed many of the recent trials leading to the approval of new treatments.
Our Sarcoma Medical Oncology Service is one of the most experienced and successful groups in the United States. Our group specializes in the care and management of this rare and diverse group of malignancies, enrolling many of our patients in targeted clinical trials. The team holds a large National Cancer Institute grant (the SPORE grant) to carry out sarcoma research.
The Thoracic Oncology Service is changing how thoracic cancer is treated. Drawing on the careful genetic analysis of lung cancers, we have subdivided this group of diseases into smaller subsets, each sensitive to highly specific anticancer treatments that can often be given in pill form. These treatments are spurring remarkable changes among patients with advanced lung cancers who would otherwise receive classic chemotherapy.
The Clinical Genetics Service has made important contributions to the field, discovering both cancer susceptibility genes such as BRCA2 and characterizing how other genes alter the function of cancer genes. Through counseling of our patients and their families, this team provides a critical component of our cancer prevention programs in breast, ovarian, and colon cancers.
The Early Drug Development Service is made up of physicians, scientists, nurses, and research professionals. We collaborate closely with scientists from the Department of Medicine, the Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program, and the Sloan Kettering Institute.
Our unique group works closely together to identify the next wave of potentially transformative cancer medicines. We treat patients with all different types of cancer and many of the new therapies we are testing are personalized based on the characteristics of each patient’s cancer.
Learn more about the Early Drug Development Service.
