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Vadim Gushchin, M.D., serves as Director of The Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center at Mercy as well as Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology, a division of Surgical Oncology at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Gushchin offers expertise in complex malignancies and is a skilled cancer surgeon. He is exceptionally accomplished in minimally invasive surgery – most notably in da Vinci Robotic Surgery – as well as in traditional open surgery techniques. Gastrointestinal Cancer (GI Cancers), melanoma – more commonly known as skin cancer, and thyroid cancer are among the many cancer diagnoses Dr. Gushchin treats. To determine the best treatment option for his surgical oncology patients, Dr. Gushchin carefully evaluates each patient’s risk factors, medical history, current clinical condition, surgical alternatives and post-surgical recovery options in order to fully develop a thorough, personalized care plan. Dr. Gushchin comforts and compassionately walks his patients through the treatment steps needed to care for melanoma, thyroid and parathyroid disease, peritoneal surface malignancies (abdominal tumors), and recurring tumors within the colon, rectum and liver. Dr. Gushchin is well-recognized for his experience in treating complex cancers with HIPEC (Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy). Dr. Gushchin trained under the internationally renowned surgical oncologist Dr. Paul Sugarbaker to master this procedure, which involves cytoreductive surgery followed by a heated chemotherapy solution to reduce and eliminate tumors. Dr. Gushchin has participated in over 150 HIPEC surgeries and provides patients expertise in complicated HIPEC surgeries including repeat HIPEC surgeries, simultaneous liver resections at the time of HIPEC as well as other advanced surgical treatments in conjunction with HIPEC treatment. An international presenter and teacher, Dr. Gushchin has educated physicians around the world on HIPEC treatment and has organized teaching courses for the treatment of peritoneal surface malignancies (complex abdominal cancers that can be treated with HIPEC). As an extension of his knowledge and compassion, Dr. Gushchin has been instrumental in setting up treatment centers for peritoneal surface malignancies in other parts of the world including Lithuania, Siberia and Ukraine. Dr. Vadim Gushchin is one of Mercy Medical Center’s top surgical oncologists. He utilizes many of the latest innovations in technology and research to provide state-of-the-art treatment options to his patients. Dr. Gushchin brings expertise in robotic surgery, using the da Vinci robot. Patients who qualify for da Vinci robot surgery typically experience the benefits of a more precise and exacting surgery, a less invasive procedure, shorter hospital stay and faster recovery. Dr. Vadim Gushchin leads a multidisciplinary team of experts at The Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center at Mercy to treat a wide range of skin cancers. As an experienced oncology surgeon and talented cancer specialist, he uses the Isolated Limb Infusion technique to try to save an arm or leg that has been aggressively attacked by skin cancer. Isolated Limb Infusion, also known as ILI, offers patients a remarkable alternative approach to metastatic melanoma on a limb. This type of skin cancer commonly leads to amputation or a disfiguring result. Dr. Gushchin and his patients know this doesn’t always have to be the case. Isolated Limb Infusion gives Dr. Gushchin a fighting chance to save his patients’ affected arms and/or legs, reduce or shrink the cancerous tumor and avoid the need for a more radical surgery.

Hematologic oncologist C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, is the Chief of the Myeloma Program and the inaugural leader of a new research program, Experimental Therapeutics, at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Health System and the Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Landgren, previously served as Chief of Myeloma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Dr Sekeres has focused on leukemias, and particularly myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia in older adults, for two decades. He has developed innovative therapies for these cancers; helped define the genetics of leukemia and related blood and bone marrow cancers along with clinical correlates; helped redefine prognostication, including innovative methods using machine learning and artificial intelligence; and helped define the epidemiology and patient reported outcomes in these conditions. He has also chaired the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee and is an expert on cancer regulatory issues, and is a widely published essayist focused on patient-doctor communication, with 60 essays in The New York Times.

Dr. Herbst’s primary mission is the enhanced integration of clinical, laboratory, and research programs to bring new treatments to cancer patients. He has led the Phase I development of several of the new generation of targeted agents for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including gefitinib, erlotinib, cetuximab, and bevacizumab. More recently, he participated in the successful registration of pembrolizumab for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer, following the successful Yale-led KEYNOTE 10 study of the immune therapy drug commonly used to treat other cancers. He was co-leader for the BATTLE-1 clinical trial program, co-leads the subsequent BATTLE-2 clinical trial program, and served as a Co-program Leader of the Developmental Therapeutics Program for the YCC Support Grant. Dr. Herbst’s laboratory work is focused on immunotherapy angiogenesis; dual epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibition in NSCLC, and targeting KRAS-activated pathways. More recently, he has explored predictive biomarkers for the use of immunotherapy agents. This work has been translated from the preclinical to clinical setting in multiple Phase II and III studies which he has led. After earning a B.S. and M.S. degree from Yale University, Dr. Herbst earned his M.D. at Cornell University Medical College and his Ph.D. in molecular cell biology at The Rockefeller University in New York City, New York. His postgraduate training included an internship and residency in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. His clinical fellowships in medicine and hematology were completed at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, respectively. Subsequently, Dr. Herbst completed a M.S. degree in clinical translational research at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Herbst is an author or co-author of more than 275 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters. His work has been published in many prominent journals, such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature. His abstracts have been presented at the annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the World Conference on Lung Cancer, the Society of Nuclear Medicine Conference, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. Dr. Herbst was a member of the National Cancer Policy Forum (1998-2014) for which he organized an Institute of Medicine meeting focused on policy issues in personalized medicine. He is a member of ASCO and, as a member of AACR, he chairs the Tobacco Task Force. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and an elected member of the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Herbst is also a member of the medical advisory committee for the Lung Cancer Research Foundation and chair of the communications committee for ASCO and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. He is currently the Vice Chair for Developmental Therapeutics for the Southwestern Oncology Group (SWOG) Lung Committee, Principal Investigator of the SWOG 0819 trial, and steering committee chair for the Lung Master Protocol (Lung MAP). Dr. Herbst was awarded the 2010 Waun Ki Hong Award for Excellence in Team Science by the Division of Cancer Medicine, UT-MDACC. The Alvin S. Slotnick Lecture Award for notable contributions to lung cancer research was bestowed upon him by Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center in 2014. That same year, the Bonnie Addario Foundation honored him with the Annual Addario Lectureship Award and the Bonnie J. Addario Excellence in Collaboration and Innovation Award. In 2015, the Clinical Research Forum presented his project “Predictive Correlates of Response to the Anti-PD-L1 Antibody MPDL3280A in Cancer Patients” its top Clinical Research Achievement Award in the United States for 2015. For his lifetime achievement in scientific contributions to thoracic cancer research, Herbst was awarded the 2016 Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer at IASLC 17th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vienna, Austria. His work has been funded by ASCO, AACR, the United States Department of Defense, and the National Cancer Institute. In 2015, his team at Yale was awarded a lung cancer SPORE by the NCI, and he serves as a principal investigator for the AACR/ Stand Up to Cancer Dream Team grant. EDUCATION & TRAININGMMS Harvard University, Clinical Translational Research (1997)MD Cornell University Medical College (1991)PhD Rockefeller University (1990)BS Yale University, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry (1984)MS Yale University, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (1984)Fellowship Brigham and Women`s HospitalFellowship Dana Farber Cancer InstituteResidency Brigham and Women`s HospitalHONORS & RECOGNITIONElected to the Association of American PhysiciansAAP (2015) Addario Foundation Lectureship AwardBonnie Addario Foundation (2014) Alvin S. Slotnick Lecture Award for notable contributions to lung cancer researchDana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center (2014) Best Doctors, New York Magazine(2014) Honorary Professor, University College London Cancer CenterUniversity College London (2012) Sikand OratorYale University (2011) PROFESSIONAL SERVICENational Cancer Institute (2012 - Present)Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee - National Cancer Institute

My clinical and research interests are in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. I am interested in clinical trial development and investigation of novel or new treatment options for patients with breast cancer. I am also interested in improving access to clinical trials to diverse patient populations. 






Education

Residency, INTERNAL MEDICINE - Boston University, School of Medicine
M.D. 2016 - Boston University, School of Medicine




 
I am interested in clinical research to develop novel therapeutic agents to further advance the field of breast oncology. My goal is to further the development of novel therapeutic agents through clinical trial development and better access to clinical trials for all patients. I've been involved in research projects to improve the care oncology patients receive as well as clinical research to investigate the genomic differences within breast cancer and how we can find targets to continue to improve personalized breast cancer treatment.





 

I specialize in the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers with a focus on clinical trials. Clinical trial patients can come to me at any point during their disease, but they usually come to me looking for an alternative therapy once standard treatments have not been effective. I decided to become a doctor later in my career. I originally graduated from university with a non-science degree, but the excitement of advancing medical breakthroughs inspired me to start a career in medicine. As a Duke physician, I enjoy the diverse experiences that I get to have each week. In addition to taking care of patients and conducting research, I work closely with other doctors on crafting treatment plans. I also find it fulfilling to be able to apply my research to patient care. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family, jogging and skiing.
Education

Fellowship in Hematology-Oncology, MEDICINE - Duke University, School of Medicine
Residency, MEDICINE - University of Washington
M.D. 2005 - The University of Chicago

Dr. Lakshmi Nayak serves as Director of the Center for CNS Lymphoma at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. She received her medical degree at Grant Medical College in Mumbai, India. She completed her residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital/ Cornell, and fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Her research includes development of novel therapies through preclinical and clinical studies for management of primary brain tumors including glioblastoma and primary central nervous system lymphoma, with particular focus on molecular targeted agents and immunotherapeutics, including CAR T-cell therapy.  She leads the international neurologic assessment in neuro-oncology (NANO) effort for evaluation of neurologic function in patients with brain tumors. 

Dr. Partridge received her MD from Cornell University Medical College in 1995. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and went on to complete fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at DFCI, MGH and BWH. She also received an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. She is a medical oncologist who cares for adults with breast cancer, with a particular focus on the unique needs of young patients with breast cancer.  She also leads efforts to optimize cancer survivorship care and research at DFCI.

Barbara Burtness, MD, is a Yale Medicine medical oncologist who sees patients at Yale Cancer Center. She has made it her life’s mission to help people diagnosed with head and neck cancer, which can be a devastating disease even after it is cured—it can impact a person’s appearance, as well as the ability to speak, swallow, and eat.
“Patients often encounter unpleasant outcomes that can include difficulty swallowing solid foods, impaired nutrition, aspiration, and feeding tube dependence,” says Dr. Burtness. “Younger patients may have to deal with these side effects for decades after cancer treatment.”
A careful treatment approach can help prevent these problems. She and her team evaluate the tumor location and decide which primary treatment (surgery or radiation therapy) will best cure the cancer and cause the fewest possible negative outcomes.
A professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Burtness’ research lab is actively studying new cures for head and neck cancers. “We want to help improve these patients’ quality of life,” she says.

Dr. Kunz is an international leader in the treatment and clinical research of patients with GI malignancies and neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). She holds several leadership positions in the field including President Emeritus of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society, recent past Chair of the Neuroendocrine Tumor Taskforce of the National Cancer Institute, and member of the FDA’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee. She also currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for JCO Oncology Advances. In addition to her focus on NETs, she is a leading voice for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in medicine. She served as the Vice Chief of DEI for the Section of Medical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine and, in 2021, she was awarded ‘Woman Oncologist of the Year’ by Women Leaders in Oncology for her work in promoting gender equity.

Oncologist Patricia LoRusso, DO, associate director of innovative medicine at Yale Medicine, has expertise in testing new treatments on patient volunteers who have advanced stages of cancer. Her passion is bringing research breakthroughs into the clinic to help patients with different types and stages of cancer.
The clinical trials at Yale Cancer Center offer access to experimental drugs that are sometimes a patient’s last and best hope, says Dr. LoRusso. Therapies that prove successful can advance through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process. “Many of the drugs tested here will help generations of cancer patients,” says Dr. LoRusso. In her career, 14 cancer drugs she has performed clinical trials on, which she refers to as her “children,” have gone on to gain FDA approval.
Dr. LoRusso leads the Phase I clinical trials infusion center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven. She infuses the center with a warm, team-focused approach that puts patients at the center of care. “We’re improving patients’ lives in Connecticut and beyond,” says Dr. LoRusso.

Michael Cecchini, MD, is a medical oncologist who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers, including (but not limited to) colorectal, bile duct, pancreas, esophageal, and stomach cancers. He often cares for patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancers and is an investigator in multiple research trials to help them get treatments that are not always available elsewhere.
“Taking care of patients and spending the time to get to know them is the best part of my job,” Dr. Cecchini says. It helps to draw upon the diverse expertise of colleagues at Smilow and those in non-cancer specialties, he adds. “At Yale we have an excellent multidisciplinary team that will work hard to treat your cancer, manage your symptoms, and deliver the care you deserve as a patient.”
Dr. Cecchini was inspired to become a cancer specialist partly because he wanted to have opportunities to perform research to improve options for his patients. “Few specialties are so integrated with close patient relationships and translational research that can dramatically improve the lives of our patients and minimize side effects,” he says. His translational research includes clinical and lab projects to study DNA damage and the immune response, primarily for colorectal cancer. He is the recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation for research focused on metastatic gastric cancer and 2020 Scholar on the Yale Cancer Center K12 Calabresi Immuno-Oncology Training Program.

As Professor of Medicine and Urology at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Daniel P. Petrylak is a pioneer in the research and development of new drugs and treatments to fight prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer. For patients fighting these types of cancers, Petrylak finds recent developments in the field of immunotherapy particularly promising. “Up until recently, bladder cancer had not seen any major advancement in more than 30 years,” he says. “Studies are ongoing, but interim results are exciting so far.”
At the Smilow Cancer Hospital, Dr. Petrylak’s position as a national leader on clinical trials for men with prostate and bladder cancer has opened up a world of treatment options for patients in New England. “We offer the latest investigational drugs for these conditions, while providing the highest level of care,” he says.
Dr. Petrylak received his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and joined the Yale faculty in 2012. In addition to his role as professor, he is also a member of the Cancer Signaling Networks Research Program at Yale Cancer Center, which studies how cancer stem cells are regulated in the body and communicate with surrounding tissue. Roughly 40 physicians and scientists in the program work together to develop the best methods for matching patients with the appropriate cancer drugs.
One of Dr. Petrylak’s key goals is to continue to successfully translate basic research into clinical practice. “One of the most significant accomplishments in my career was moving docetaxel (an antineoplastic agent) therapy for the most advanced form of prostate cancer from phase I to III,” he says. “We ran a trial which supported its approval for the most advanced form of prostate cancer.”
Dr. Petrylak currently serves as either the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on seven Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) clinical trials for genitourinary cancers. To date, he has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on prostate and bladder cancer research.

Hospital resident at Yale School of Medicine

Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil, is a medical oncologist who specializes in breast cancer. He is the co-director of the Genomics, Genetics, and Epigenetics Program at the Yale Cancer Center.
He says he enjoys the delicate work of helping patients overcome the fear and shock of a breast cancer diagnosis. “I ensure that they maximize their chance of cure through the best available treatments,” he says. “I also love the research component of my job, to push the boundaries of existing knowledge and developing new therapies.”
Dr. Pusztai says he gravitated to medical oncology at the beginning of his career because of an inspiring mentor, and that the best part of his job is seeing patients remain disease-free for years and continuing with their life.
He is chair of the Breast Cancer Research Committee of the South West Oncology Group (SWOG), a global cancer research community that designs and conducts publicly funded clinical trials. His research group has made important contributions to establish that estrogen receptor-positive and-negative breast cancers have fundamentally different molecular, clinical, and epidemiological characteristics.
He has been a pioneer in evaluating gene expression profiling as a diagnostic technology to predict chemotherapy and endocrine therapy sensitivity and has shown that different biological processes are involved in determining the prognosis and treatment response in different breast cancer subtypes. Dr. Pusztai is also the principal investigator of several clinical trials investigating new drugs, including immunotherapies for breast cancer.

Shail Maingi, MD (she/her) is a medical oncologist, hematologist, and palliative care physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute South Shore location. In addition to seeing patients with solid tumors and blood diseases, she is the inaugural DFCI Network Health Equity and Inclusion Liaison. Dr. Maingi has been a health equity advocate and clinical researcher for years, with a focus on health care disparities in oncology and end-of-life settings, particularly for sexual and gender minority people and with a focus on intersectionality.  She is currently part of the scientific program committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference and serves on ASCO’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Practice Health Task Force, and as the co-chair of their Sexual and Gender Minority Task Force. Dr. Maingi was also the founding chair of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine’s LGBTQ Special Interest Group. She serves on the GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality board and heads their Racial Justice Task Force, after serving as their VP for the Lesbian Health Fund for 6 years. 

Dr. Sarmad Sadeghi earned his medical degree at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. He has a Master of Science degree (MS) in Health Information Sciences and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) in Public Health Management and Policy Sciences from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston.
He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He completed his hematology/oncology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. Dr. Sadeghi joined the faculty at the division of oncology of University of Southern California in 2013 and has a clinical and research focus in genitourinary malignancies, specifically bladder, kidney and prostate cancers.
Dr. Sadeghi is the study chair and principal investigator of a number of multicenter clinical trials and is also an active member of SWOG cooperative group and the California Cancer Consortium.
Dr. Sadeghi is well published with several original articles and abstracts in peer reviewed journals and international meetings.

Dr. Kimia Sorouri is a clinician-researcher with an interest in fertility, particularly fertility preservation and ovarian toxicity of anti-cancer drugs and novel therapeutics. She is currently a senior resident physician in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, one of the highest-volume sites in Canada, and concurrently appointed as a research fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/ Harvard Medical School. 

She received her MD from the University of Toronto and her MPH from Harvard University as a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow. She then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/ Harvard Medical School with Dr. Ann H. Partridge researching the reproductive health of cancer patients and survivors. In addition, she has an interest in leveraging technology to advance women’s health through her involvement with early-stage companies as an advisor and founder.

Dr. Toni K. Choueiri is the Director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary (GU) Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), co-leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg Chair and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the Medical Director, International Strategic Initiatives at Dana-Farber and past President of the Medical Staff at DFCI (2016-2018). He received the George Canellos Award for Excellence in Clinical Investigation and Patient Care from DFCI in 2013, the Eugene Schonfeld Award from the Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) in 2016, and is a 2021 Giants of Cancer Care inductee. He serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Kidney Cancer Panel, KidneyCan Board, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) GU Steering Committee, and is past Chairman (2015-2018) of the Medical and Scientific Steering Committee of the KCA. Dr. Choueiri is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). In addition, he is an Aresty Scholar from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Choueiri is interested in developing novel experimental therapies and biomarkers in GU malignancies, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In a series of New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) articles on which he was either first or senior author, Dr. Choueiri and colleagues have made seminal observations that have defined and evolved the treatment of metastatic RCC and led to the approval of several therapies such as Cabozantinib, Pazopanib, Avelumab+Axitinib, Cabozantinib+Nivolumab, and Pembrolizumab+Lenvatinib, as well as adjuvant pembrolizumab. His research also focuses on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment outcomes of GU cancers, especially through having co-established the International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium criteria for RCC risk stratification. His biomarker work has shed light on complex immunogenomics mechanisms contributing to response and resistance to targeted therapy and immunotherapy. He has also contributed to our understanding of the underlying biology and rationale for therapies in rare histological variants of RCC such as papillary, translocation, and sarcomatoid RCC.
Dr. Choueiri has received research funding from the NCI, the Department of Defense (DOD), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and industry partners. His work has been published in journals such as the NEJM, Nature, Nature Medicine, Science, Cancer Cell, Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), JAMA Oncology, The Lancet, Lancet Oncology, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. He lectures frequently throughout the United States and around the world. He has over 675 PubMed-indexed publications and is the lead investigator of multiple national and international phase I-III trials in GU cancers.

Dr. Jayachandran specializes in Breast Medical Oncology. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Keck and also serves as the Director of Breast Medical Oncology and Genomics at the LAC+USC Medical Center. She graduated from Stanford University and the University of Michigan Medical School before completing her residency in Internal Medicine at UCSF Fresno and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at USC. She is active in research with a focus on clinical trials, translational studies, biomarkers, and improving access to care. She enjoys teaching fellows, residents, and medical students.