Medical Oncologist
Associate Director for Translational Science
“I came to The Cancer Institute of New Jersey in 2005 from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School where I was an instructor in medicine and staff physician. I started my medical training at Yale University, where I graduated from with both an MD and a PhD in cell biology. I then completed a medical residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and served as a Chief Medical Resident. This was followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
With a research interest in breast cancer biology and DNA repair, I am currently exploring how DNA repair defects in cancers can be exploited to develop novel effective treatments. I am also active in applying next-generation sequencing technology to identify specific genomic changes in cancers that can be therapeutically targeted. As a physician/scientist I both run a basic research laboratory focused on breast cancer biology and see patients in the Stacy Goldstein Breast Cancer Center. In the clinic, I work collaboratively with experts across multi-disciplines and have the opportunity to put theory into practice as we aim to develop the next generation of targeted treatments for breast cancer. Working with a team of radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, nurses, social workers, genetic specialists and others, I help patients understand their specific disease and their treatment options so that they can make informed decisions. He also is a critical driver of the Precision Medicine Initiative at the Cancer Institute, and has developed a research protocol in which patients with rare or difficult to treat cancers under targeted genomic sequencing to search for new potential treatment options. He has been instrumental in developing the Molecular Tumor Board at RCINJ and the new Molecular Therapeutics Clinic at Rutgers CINJ. This work has led to several novel findings that are driving both clinical trials and basic cancer research at the Cancer Institute. Also, I am a Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, hold the Omar Boraie Chair in Genomic Science and serve as Associate Director for Translational Science at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
I am the author or co-author of more than 107 publications and serve on the editorial board of the journal Frontiers in Molecular and Cellular Oncology.”
Clinical Expertise
Breast cancer, BRCA1/2, triple-negative breast cancer, breast cancer biology, rare cancers.
Honors
- Hero Award, Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation, 2016
- AHEPA, Axios Award, AHEPA 5Th District Cancer Research Foundation, 2015
- Award of Hope for Leadership in Research and Patient Care, Rutgers Cancer Institute New Jersey, 2014
- Sidney Kimmel Foundation, Kimmel Scholar Award, 2006
- National Cancer Institute, Howard Temin Award, 2004
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 1999
