Memorial Hospital Research Laboratories

The Kenneth Offit Lab

Kenneth Offit, MD

Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics; Vice Chair, Academic Affairs, Department of Medicine

Research in the laboratory focuses on the discovery and characterization of novel cancer predisposing genes in humans, including both common and rare variants. We conduct studies to describe phenotype, penetrance, modifying effect, and clinical outcomes associated with germline genetic alterations in cancer patients and their families. In addition, our research focuses on the interpretation and clinical translation of results of massively parallel sequencing of germline genomes in cancer-prone kindreds.

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Featured News

Meet the 2023–2024 Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Fellows

Finding

Vijai Joseph and Sabine Topka in the lab

Repairing DNA Damage in Cancer Cells

New findings could lead to a different kind of cancer drug that targets a DNA damage repair pathway called nucleotide excision repair.

In the Clinic

Innovative Research Center Will Explore Hereditary Cancer Genes

MSK’s new Robert and Kate Niehaus Center for Inherited Cancer Genomics is using the latest in gene sequencing technologies to discover the inherited causes of cancer.

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Publications Highlights

Wei X, Calvo-Vidal MN, Chen S, Wu G, Revuelta MV, Sun J, Zhang J, Walsh MF, Nichols KE, Joseph V, Snyder C, Vachon CM, McKay JD, Wang SP, Jayabalan DS, Jacobs LM, Becirovic D, Waller RG, Artomov M, Viale A, Patel J, Phillip J, Chen-Kiang S, Curtin K, Salama M, Atanackovic D, Niesvizky R, Landgren O, Slager SL, Godley LA, Churpek J, Garber JE, Anderson KC, Daly MJ, Roeder RG, Dumontet C, Lynch HT, Mullighan CG, Camp NJ, Offit K, Klein RJ, Yu H, Cerchietti L, Lipkin SM. Germline Lysine-Specific Demethylase 1 (LSD1/KDM1A) Mutations Confer Susceptibility to Multiple Myeloma. Cancer Res. 2018 May 15;78(10):2747-2759.

Katona BW, Yurgelun MB, Garber JE, Offit K, Domchek SM, Robson ME, Stadler ZK. A counseling framework for moderate-penetrance colorectal cancer susceptibility genes. Genet Med. 2018 Mar 1.

Walsh MF, Kennedy J, Harlan M, Kentsis A, Shukla N, Musinsky J, Roberts S, Kung AL, Robson M, Kushner BH, Meyers P, Offit K. Germline BRCA2 mutations detected in pediatric sequencing studies impact parents’ evaluation and care. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud. 2017 Nov 21;3(6).

Mandelker D, Zhang L, Kemel Y, Stadler ZK, Joseph V, Zehir A, Pradhan N, Arnold A, Walsh MF, Li Y, Balakrishnan AR, Syed A, Prasad M, Nafa K, Carlo MI, Cadoo KA, Sheehan M, Fleischut MH, Salo-Mullen E, Trottier M, Lipkin SM, Lincoln A, Mukherjee S, Ravichandran V, Cambria R, Galle J, Abida W, Arcila ME, Benayed R, Shah R, Yu K, Bajorin DF, Coleman JA, Leach SD, Lowery MA, Garcia-Aguilar J, Kantoff PW, Sawyers CL, Dickler MN, Saltz L, Motzer RJ, O’Reilly EM, Scher HI, Baselga J, Klimstra DS, Solit DB, Hyman DM, Berger MF, Ladanyi M, Robson ME, Offit K. Mutation Detection in Patients With Advanced Cancer by Universal Sequencing of Cancer-Related Genes in Tumor and Normal DNA vs Guideline-Based Germline Testing. JAMA. 2017 Sep 5;318(9):825-835. Doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.11137

Hamilton JG, Shuk E, Genoff MC, Rodríguez VM, Hay JL, Offit K, Robson ME. Interest and Attitudes of Patients With Advanced Cancer With Regard to Secondary Germline Findings From Tumor Genomic Profiling. J Oncol Pract. 2017 Jul;13(7):e590-e601.

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People

Kenneth Offit, MD

Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics; Vice Chair, Academic Affairs, Department of Medicine

Cancer geneticist Kenneth Offit focuses on gene characterization; genetic and epidemiologic studies of cancer-predisposing alleles; and the therapeutic, prognostic, and psychosocial translation of these findings.
MD, Harvard Medical School

[email protected]: Email Address
646-888-4059: Office Phone
View physician profile: Physician profile

Members

Vijai Joseph
Associate Attending Geneticist; Director of Bioinformatics, Niehaus Center

Mark E. Robson, MD — Mark E. Robson
Chief, Breast Medicine Service; Lead, Inherited Breast Cancer Genomics, Niehaus Center

Zsofia K. Stadler, MD — Zsofia K. Stadler
Lead, Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer Genomics, Niehaus Center

Sami Behaldj — Sami Belhadj
Research Fellow

Maria Carlo

Lead, Inherited Genitourinary Cancer Genomics, Niehaus Center

Sita Dandiker

Bryan Devolder

Yelena Kemel
Niehaus Center Program Manager

Ying Liu
Lead, Inherited Gynecological Cancer Genomics, Niehaus Center

Semanti Mukherjee
Associate Attending Geneticist; Director of Bioinformatics, Niehaus Center

Vignesh Ravichandran, Master of Science in Bioinformatics — Vignesh Ravichandran
Bioinformatics Specialist

Sabine Topka, PhD — Sabine Topka
Associate Director of Laboratory Operations; Head, Functional Genomics, Niehaus Center

Lab Alumni

Noah Kauff, MD — Noah Kauff
Clinical Laboratory Investigator

Sohela Shah, PhD — Sohela Shah
Research Fellow

Kasmintan (Intan) A. Schrader, MBBS — Kasmintan (Intan) A. Schrader
Postdoctoral Fellow

Christopher Manschreck
Research Technician

Shaheen Alanee

Clinical Fellows

Yvonne Bombard, PhD — Yvonne Bombard
Visiting Investigator

Karen Cadoo

David Gallagher

Clinical Fellows

Robert Hamilton

Clinical Fellows

Lauren Jacobs, BS — Lauren Jacobs
Research Study Assistant

Tomas Kirchhoff

Research Fellows

Ryan Kopp, MD — Ryan Kopp
Research Fellow

Anne Lincoln, MS — Anne Lincoln
Clinical Research Supervisor

Meredith Newland
Research Project Coordinator

Prodipto Pal

Research Fellows

Derek Power

Clinical Fellows

John Sullivan, MB, BCh, BAO — John Sullivan
Research Fellow

Danylko Villano, BA — Danylko Villano
Research Technician

Lab Affiliations

Open Positions

To learn more about available postdoctoral opportunities, please visit our Career Center

To learn more about compensation and benefits for postdoctoral researchers at MSK, please visit Resources for Postdocs

Get in Touch

[email protected]

Lab Head Email
646-888-4059

Office Phone
646-888-4081

Office Fax
646-888-3098

Lab Phone

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.

Kenneth Offit discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

AnaNeo Therapeutics
Equity

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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The Kenneth Offit Lab

Research

Featured News

Publications Highlights

People

Members

Open Positions

Bioinformatics Specialist

Career Opportunities

Computational Genetics Fellow

Get in Touch

Disclosures