Memorial Sloan Kettering names department chair
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, has been appointed chair of the department of medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
She succeeds Philip W. Kantoff, MD, who served as department chair for 6 years.
Schrag began her oncology career at Memorial Sloan Kettering, spending 8 years there as a physician and faculty member. She most recently served as chief of the division of population sciences at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“Dr. Schrag’s discerning leadership qualities and experience building collaborative teams will enrich [Memorial Sloan Kettering’s] esteemed department of medicine,” Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD, the institution’s physician-in-chief, said in a press release. “I look forward to working closely with her to continue that tradition of excellence as she builds a research laboratory dedicated to innovation in care delivery transformation, mentors trainees and collaborates with clinicians, researchers and staff.”
Schrag, a medical oncologist, specializes in treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancer. She also is a population scientist and health services researcher whose work has focused on improving the quality, effectiveness and delivery of cancer care.
“My goal is to fertilize a culture that supports innovation and discovery across all types and phases of research,” Schrag said in the release. “My passion lies in ensuring that the discoveries generated in the laboratory and as a result of clinical trials make the transition from research to reality to benefit all patients.
“By enhancing the way care is delivered, we can achieve better outcomes for more patients with cancer,” Schrag added. “To do this, it is imperative that we encourage physicians to apply their ingenuity to tackle important questions about how we can use mechanistic understanding of cancer etiology to design the smartest trials and execute these trials efficiently. We must also ensure that the insights we generate from trials reach all those who stand to benefit, harness the data generated by each patient’s cancer journey to improve outcomes in the future, and ultimately optimize the experience of care for [patients with cancer].”
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts