Sam S. Yoon - Physician Profile | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

I am a surgical oncologist specializing in the treatment of patients with sarcomas (and other soft tissue tumors) as well as gastroesophageal tumors. I received my surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. I worked as an academic surgeon at Massachusetts General and Harvard Medical School for ten years. There, I had a busy clinical practice, ran clinical trials, and led a translational research laboratory — all focused on providing ever-improving surgeries and treatments for patients with sarcomas and gastroesophageal cancers. In 2012, I was recruited back to Memorial Sloan-Kettering and joined the Gastric and Mixed Tumor Service.

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My main goal is to provide each patient with the absolute best care for his or her particular disease. Thus I am part of multidisciplinary teams of medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, and other medical professionals who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with sarcomas or gastroesophageal cancers. I also strive to constantly improve and expand my own surgical skills. This has involved adopting new minimally invasive techniques such as laparoscopic resection of gastric tumors and intra-abdominal sarcomas as well as traveling to other specialty centers around the world. To understand how our results compare to those of other institutions, I have authored numerous articles on the outcomes of patients with various sarcomas (e.g., retroperitoneal and pelvic sarcomas, extremity and trunk sarcomas, and angiosarcomas) and gastroesophageal cancers (e.g., gastric adenocarcinoma, hereditary diffuse gastric cancer syndrome, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors).

Clinical research is a fundamental part of providing outstanding patient care. I am the principal investigator for a translational research laboratory that examines the role of the tumor blood vessels in controlling the growth, metastasis, and radiation response of sarcomas and gastroesophageal cancers. My laboratory is currently funded by an R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute and has previously been funded by several foundations including the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society for Surgical Oncology. One consistent finding made by several research groups including ours is that blocking vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in tumors improves the efficacy of radiation therapy. We recently completed a clinical trial examining the role of bevacizumab (a drug that inhibits VEGF) and radiation in the preoperative treatment of resectable sarcomas. This trial demonstrated that bevacizumab markedly improves the tumor-killing effects of radiation for sarcomas and served as the basis for an upcoming multi-institutional trial of VEGF-inhibition and radiation being developed jointly by the Children’s Oncology Group and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.

Location

New York City

Appointments for New Patients

646-497-9072

Phone

212-639-7436

Clinical Expertise

Sarcomas and other Soft Tissue Tumors, Gastroesophageal Cancer, Small Bowel Tumors, Neuroendocrine Tumors, Lymphoma and Spleen Tumors

Languages Spoken

English

Education

MD, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine

Residencies

Massachusetts General Hospital

Fellowships

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Board Certifications

Surgery

See My Colleagues in:

Department of Surgery›Gastric and Mixed Tumor Service

Publications by Sam S. Yoon

Selected Book Chapters
“Surgical management of metastatic colon and rectal cancer.” Yoon SS, Tanabe KK. In: American Cancer Society Atlas of Clinical Oncology: Cancer of the Lower Gastrointestinal Tract. Steele GD, Phillips TL, Chabner BA, eds. Willet C, series ed. Hamilton, Ontario, CA: BC Decker Inc., 2001; 170-195.

“Surgical and regional therapy for liver metastases.” Tanabe KK, Yoon SS. In: Oncology: An Evidence Based Approach. Chang AE, Ganz PA, Hayes DF, Kinsella TJ, Pass HI, Schiller JH, Stone RM, Strecher VJ, eds. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2006; 1636-1654.

“Benign liver tumors.” Yoon SS, Tanabe KK. In: Advanced Therapy in Surgical Oncology. Pollock RE, Curley SA, Ross MI, Perrior ND, eds. Hamilton, British Columbia: Decker, 2007; 131-142.

“Soft tissue sarcomas.” DeLaney TF, Hornicek FJ, Kirsch DG, Yoon SS, Rosenberg AE, Harmon DC, Mankin HJ, Rosenthal D, Suit HD. In: Treatment of Cancer. Price P, Sikora K, Illidge T, eds. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008.

“Soft tissue and bone sarcomas.” Yoon SS, Hornicek FJ, Harmon DC, DeLaney TF. In: Harrison’s Handbook of Medical Oncology. Chabner BA, Lynch TJ, Longo DL, eds. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008; 549-566.

“Hereditary diffuse gastric cancer.” Pandalai PK, Yoon SS. In: Principles of Clinical Cancer Genetics. Chung DC, Haber DA, eds. New York: Springer, 2010; 97-107.

“The management of soft tissue sarcoma.” Yoon SS, Hornicek FJ. In: Current Surgical Therapy. 10th ed. Cameron JL, Cameron AM, eds. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2011; 631-636.

“Radiation therapy for desmoid tumors.” El Halabi HO, Chen YL, Mullen JT, Yoon SS, Hornicek FJ, DeLaney TF. In: Desmoid Tumors. Litchman CD, ed. New York: Springer, 2012; 105-126.

“Soft tissue and bone sarcomas.” Yoon SS, Hornicek FJ, Choy E, DeLaney TF. In: Harrison’s Handbook of Medical Oncology. 2nd ed. Chabner BA, Lynch TJ, Longo DL, eds. New York: McGraw Hill (in press).

“The management of gastric adenocarcinoma.” Yoon SS. In: Current Surgical Therapy, 11th ed. Cameron JL, Cameron AM. Philadelphia: Elsevier (in press).

Visit PubMed for full listing of Sam S. Yoon journal articles

Pubmed is an online index of biomedical articles maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

adenocarcinoma (A-deh-noh-KAR-sih-NOH-muh)

Cancer that begins in cells that line certain internal organs and that have gland-like (secretory) properties.