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J. Joshua Smith, MD, PhD

J. Joshua Smith, MD, PhD, FACS

Colorectal Surgeon

My Role at MSK

Areas of Expertise

My Specialties

  • Rectal Cancer
  • Colon Cancer
  • Anal Dysplasia, High-Grade Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL), Low-Grade Intraepithelial Lesion (LSIL), Anal Condylomata, Anal Polyps, Anal Cancer
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Dr. Smith's Office Information
Languages: English
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About Me

What I Do at MSK
  • Associate Attending Surgeon
Get To Know Me

As a surgeon on the Colorectal Surgery Service, I care for people with rectal, colon, and anal cancer.

Patient care in my practice revolves around selecting treatment options that will optimize patient outcomes, enhance quality of life, and adhere to a patient-centered approach. I conduct research on these diseases and have special training in surgical oncology, with an emphasis on colorectal surgery.

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I received my MD degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and my PhD degree in Cell and Developmental Biology from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where I also completed my residency.

In 2013, I joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as a fellow in complex surgical oncology. I served as Chief Administrative Fellow for the Department of Surgery from 2014 to 2015. At MSK I have been a co-leader on the topic of watch-and-wait after clinical complete response to neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer patients on our Colorectal Disease Management Team. I am actively working to improve our understanding of this management strategy for rectal cancer patients on and off trial. Currently, I am a co-investigator on Dr. Paul Rommesser’s novel trial in rectal cancer patients. Additionally, I serve on the Rectal-Anal Task Force of the National Cancer Institute’s Gastrointestinal Steering Committee and serve on the Alliance for Clinical Trials GI Surgery Working Group.

While I focus on caring for people with rectal and colon cancer,I also research how to improve responses to standard treatments for these diseases. I spend significant time doing basic and translational research in the laboratory of Charles Sawyers. My focus there is to develop better models to study rectal cancer and to uncover targeted treatments for people with rectal and colon cancer who do not respond to standard treatments. This type of research requires that I investigate the basic mechanisms and predictive markers that we can assess in the tumors of our patients with colorectal cancer. In particular, I study Smad4 loss to identify people at risk for their cancer returning.

In the past four years, I have been heavily involved with Dr. Garcia-Aguilar in administration of his National Institutes of Health funded trial, Organ Preservation in Rectal Adenocarcinoma, for which I am an active site co-lead. We are looking into the molecular mechanisms of poor response to standard neoadjuvant chemoradiation in locally advanced rectal cancer. Furthermore, we have proposed a novel method of assessing response. We are examining this in a prospective manner to find a more precise and individualized approach to caring for people with rectal cancer.

My Role at MSK

A colorectal (KOH-loh-REK-tul) surgeon is a doctor with special training in surgery on the colon and rectum.

Areas of Expertise

My Specialties

  • Rectal Cancer
  • Colon Cancer
  • Anal Dysplasia, High-Grade Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL), Low-Grade Intraepithelial Lesion (LSIL), Anal Condylomata, Anal Polyps, Anal Cancer
  • Minimally Invasive Surgical Approaches
  • Preservation of Bowel, Bladder and Sexual Function
  • Colorectal Liver Metastases
  • Rectal Cancer Clinical Trials
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, University of Texas Medical School at Houston
  • PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Residencies

  • General Surgery - Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Fellowships

  • Complex Surgical Oncology - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Board Certifications

  • American Board of Surgery

Insurance Information

Understanding your insurance options is an important part of managing your cancer care. We have relationships with many common healthcare providers and plans.

Aetna

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO PPO, POS, Transplant

Aetna Medicare Advantage (MTA and NYC retirees only)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Anthem BCBS and other BCBS licensee plans

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

See updates

Anthem BCBS Health Plus

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

See updates

Anthem Blue Cross Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO, DSN

See updates

Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, PPO

See updates

Blue Cross Blue Shield states outside of NY/NJ

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO PPO, POS

See updates

Carrum Health

In Network Coverage Type
Supplemental

Cigna

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, HMO

Connecticare

In Network Coverage Type
POS, EPO, HMO

Emblem

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Emblem to learn more.

Emblem Essential

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Emblem Medicare Advantage (Medicare Choice PPO Network and VIP Prime Network Only)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

Empire Essential

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Empire Plan / NYSHIP (Blue Cross/UnitedHealthcare split plan)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

See updates

Fidelis

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO

Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Fidelis to learn more.

Fidelis Managed Medicaid & HARP

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Fidelis Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

First Health

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Healthfirst

In Network Coverage Type
EPO, HMO, PPO, POS

Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Healthfirst to learn more.

Healthfirst Managed Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Healthfirst Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, PPO

Healthsmart

In Network Coverage Type
PPO EPO

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey (HMO)

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

See updates

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey (PPO)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

See updates

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey Omnia Tier I (EPO)

In Network Coverage Type
EPO

See updates

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey Omnia Tier II (EPO)

In Network Coverage Type
EPO

See updates

Horizon Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

Husky CT Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Magnacare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO

Straight NJ Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Straight NY Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Medicare Part A&B (traditional Medicare)

In Network Coverage Type
Federal Government

Multiplan/Beech Street/PHCS

In Network Coverage Type
Supplemental

MVP

In Network Coverage Type
PPO/OAP

Non-Participating Plans with Out of Network Benefits

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

NYC Medicare Advantage Plus for City Employees

In Network Coverage Type
TBD

Oscar

In Network Coverage Type
HMO/EPO

Oxford

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, EPO

World Trade Center Health Program (WTC)

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Qualcare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, HMO

Tricare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

UMR

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS

United Healthcare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, HMO

Don't see your carrier or plan? We can help you understand your coverage.

If you don't have health insurance or are worried that your care may not be fully covered, our financial assistance programs may be able to help.

If you have questions about insurance, call us at 646-497-9176.

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Current Patients
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Contact and Location

Dr. Smith sees patients at one location.

Location
New York, NY
Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion
160 East 53rd Street New York NY 10022
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Looking to see a doctor at a different location? See all MSK locations.

Colleagues

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.

See all Precision Modeling doctors

See all Colorectal Service doctors

Clinical Trials

Smiling doctors in the lab
Find a Clinical Trial for You

Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.

You may be able to participate in a clinical trial even if you are new to MSK. Search our online directory to find trial information and see more about who can participate.

Search clinical trials

Research and Publications

View Dr. Smith's Lab

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Smith’s journal articles. Pubmed is an online index of research papers and other articles from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

See all on PubMed

Disclosures

Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.

MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.

J. Joshua Smith discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • Foundation Medicine
    Professional Services and Activities
  • GlaxoSmithKline
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Johnson & Johnson
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Vaniam Group
    Professional Services and Activities

If you’re a patient at MSK and would like more information about your doctor’s external relationships, please talk with your doctor.

The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.

This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2023 through disclosure submission in spring 2024). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].


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