Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has announced that Oren Cahlon, MD, a renowned radiation oncologist and expert in proton therapy, will assume the position of Associate Deputy Physician-in-Chief for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Regional Care Network. With this appointment, which is effective immediately, Dr. Cahlon will help oversee the network’s outpatient clinical programs, which span seven locations across New York and New Jersey.
“We are very fortunate to have Dr. Cahlon, with his enormous skill as a physician and his extensive experience in developing strong relationships with community partners, stepping into this leadership position,” said Lisa DeAngelis, MD, MSK’s Acting Physician-in-Chief. “We look forward to seeing all that he accomplishes in collaboration with his clinical and administrative partners.”
The Associate Deputy Physician-in-Chief for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Regional Care Network will help ensure that the highest standards of patient care continue to be delivered across the network. MSK regional site locations offer cancer treatment services (including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and radiology studies), physician consultations, access to MSK clinical trials, and an array of ancillary services. In 2017, the sites collectively tracked more than 196,000 outpatient visits. These sites include MSK Basking Ridge, MSK Monmouth, and MSK Bergen, in New Jersey; MSK Hauppauge, MSK Commack, and MSK Rockville Centre, on Long Island in New York; and MSK Westchester, in Westchester County, New York. Construction of a new 140,000-square-foot MSK Nassau facility is also underway in Uniondale, New York; it will be open for patient care in spring 2019.
In this role, Dr. Cahlon will be responsible for building new and maintaining current relationships with local healthcare providers, including multispecialty groups, so that MSK patients have ready access to high-quality nononcologic care in their communities. He will help facilitate ongoing programming, such as continuing medical education courses for local healthcare professionals, preventive screenings for the community at large, and other oncology-focused public events. Dr. Cahlon will also be integral in further expanding the network’s clinical research program and surgical service offerings, which have already given MSK patients greater access to clinical trials and surgical expertise in a location closer to home.
“I am honored to help lead the network,” said Dr. Cahlon, who will retain his role as Vice Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. “MSK’s regional network is one of the most integrated and expansive outpatient cancer treatment networks in the country, and I hope to continue to expand on the many successes the team has experienced thus far. This includes developing additional partnerships with specialized care providers, expanding our clinical trial portfolio, and introducing other patient care services to the sites.”
Since 2016, Dr. Cahlon has served as Vice Chair in the Department of Radiation Oncology. An internationally recognized leader in proton therapy, he has produced groundbreaking work on the use of proton therapy in treating breast cancer, including its effectiveness at reducing cardiac toxicity in breast cancer survivors. He serves as the national co-principal investigator of a phase III randomized trial investigating the role of proton therapy for nonmetastatic breast cancer.
Dr. Cahlon received his MD in 2004 from Mount Sinai Medical School in New York, where he graduated as valedictorian. He joined MSK as a transitional year intern in 2004 and then completed his radiation oncology residency at MSK from 2005 to 2009, serving as Chief Resident in his final year.
In 2013, Dr. Cahlon became Medical Director of the ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Somerset, New Jersey, establishing partnerships with numerous community practices and academic hospitals. He then rejoined MSK in a part-time capacity as Director of Proton Therapy, facilitating the development of MSK’s premier proton therapy program prior to assuming his present role in the Department of Radiation Oncology.
