Lee M. Krug, MD

As a thoracic oncologist, my primary responsibility is caring for patients with lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma. I also conduct patient-based research by running clinical trials testing novel drugs and treatment strategies for patients with small cell lung cancer and mesothelioma. I am the Director of the Mesothelioma Program at MSKCC, and in that capacity I head a multidisciplinary team of physicians and scientists dedicated to developing better treatment for that disease. Our group led a national study exploring the benefit of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation for patients with early stage mesothelioma. I am also leading an international phase III trial of vorinostat for patients with mesothelioma who had previously been treated with chemotherapy. I have a particular interest in therapies that boost the immune system so that it can recognize and attack specific molecules on the cancer cells. I have conducted studies testing ganglioside vaccines in small cell lung cancer and a WT-1 peptide vaccine in mesothelioma, both of which were developed by scientists at our center. I drafted the first NCCN guidelines for the management of mesothelioma which have now been approved. I serve on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.