Curriculum Vitae

My Story

My professional career has been driven by an overriding interest in improving the lives of cancer patients and having the broadest impact possible.  

Boston: I started my academic career at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Harvard Medical School.  I initially chose GU Oncology because I saw how few novel treatments were available for prostate cancer patients.  I thus focused on developing new therapies while also recognizing the need for large clinico-genomic databases to understand the burgeoning field of precision oncology.  As Director of the Gelb Center for Translational Medicine, I led the development of a consented clinical database and biorepository of over 10,000 patients with prostate, renal, and bladder cancer.  This valuable resource led to multiple insights from patients seen in the daily care of their cancer and drove dozens of papers and grants.  At the same time, I took on increasing leadership roles as Clinical Director for GU Oncology at DFCI and Founding Chair for the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for the Harvard Cancer Center.  

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New York City: In 2009, I was offered an opportunity to build a new cancer center in NYC.  Why would Manhattan need a new cancer center, people would ask?  Mount Sinai was at the nexus of the wealthiest and poorest communities in the country, and in the densely populated, diverse city of New York, clinical care, research and outreach were desperately missing for many in Mount Sinai’s catchment area.  I chose to take a new challenge as System Chief of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Mount Sinai Health System and as Associate and later Deputy Director at the Tisch Cancer Institute.  Our success has been recognized by NCI Designation.  In these roles, I also oversaw the merger of the Division with the acquisition of the Continuum Health System in NYC.  The quality of Mount Sinai’s cancer program may be measured in many ways, but one simple measure was moving from being unranked to #12 in the US News rankings.  

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Research and Clinical Care: I have authored over 350 articles, reviews, and book chapters on cancer, and edited three books on prostate cancer. I have served in key invited roles for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Cancer Society, and the American Urological Association, including the Guidelines Committee for Advanced Prostate Cancer. I was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and have been continuously selected as a Top Doctor in New York Magazine, Castle Connolly, Best Doctors, and Super Doctors over the past 15 years.   I continue to see prostate cancer patients as Clinical Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

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Industry: After 25 years in academic oncology, I decided to move to a new role as Chief Medical Officer of Sema4, an industry venture that launched out of Sinai and ultimately went public.  The idea at Sema4 was to use genomic medicine as a driver of improving patient health by annotating clinical data in health systems and building algorithms in women’s health, cancer and rare diseases to improve outcomes.  

Non-Profit: I subsequently joined the Prostate Cancer Foundation in 2022 as CMO, driving implementation projects, again to improve outcomes in this common disease.  For instance, I led an effort to reduce mortality from prostate cancer by developing Screening Guidelines for Black Men in the US as well as to increase utilization of combination therapy in metastatic disease.

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The Future: As complex therapies, data and AI, genomics and precision oncology drive the best possible cancer treatments, it is imperative that leaders in medicine maintain the human element and have the greatest impact a health care provider can have: that they care.