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Daniel G. Coit, MD, FACS
I am a surgical oncologist whose primary area of clinical and research interest is melanoma. In 1991, I introduced lymph-node mapping and sentinel lymph-node biopsy for melanoma and other selected skin cancers. Together, these procedures can determine during surgery whether a tumor has spread to surrounding lymph nodes. Using lymph node mapping, we can pinpoint the precise lymph node into which a nearby tumor is likely to travel first (called the sentinel node). If a biopsy of the sentinel node indicates cancer spread, the surrounding lymph nodes are removed. But if there is no evidence of cancer in the sentinel node, patients are spared from additional lymph node surgery.
My research has focused primarily on detecting and defining the clinical significance of individual melanoma cells in the sentinel lymph nodes, blood, and bone marrow of melanoma patients, with the goal of identifying patients at highest risk of cancer recurrence following surgery to remove a melanoma.
I served as Chief of the Gastric and Mixed Tumor Service in MSKCC's Department of Surgery from 1997 until October 2003. This service focuses primarily on the surgical management of less common malignancies, including melanoma, sarcoma, gastric cancer, and pancreatic cancer, and also provides surgical support for the Lymphoma Service.
I currently serve as a co-leader of the MSKCC Melanoma Disease Management Team -- a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, medical oncologists, pathologists, and other medical professionals who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. On a national and international level, I am involved in advancing new ways to diagnose and treat melanoma as a member of the American Joint Commission on Cancer Melanoma Staging Committee, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Melanoma Advisory Group, the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer Melanoma Working Group, the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group's Melanoma Working Group, and the World Health Organization Melanoma Committee.
In addition to my interest in melanoma, I also have an expertise in the treatment of gastric cancer. I served on the program committee of the International Gastric Cancer National Meeting in 2001. And in 2002, I was co-leader of the Gastric Cancer Working Group of the National Cancer Institute's Stomach Cancer Progress Review Group. I am currently the co-principal investigator of two gastric cancer studies at MSKCC. The first evaluates the effectiveness of chemotherapy prior to surgery in high-risk gastric cancer patients, and the second is a "Quality of Life Assessment" of gastric cancer patients. I am also an active member of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Upper GI Cancer Working Group.
MSKCC plays a key role in training oncology doctors, and I have had a long-standing interest in the training of surgical oncology fellows. I served as the Director of Surgical Education for the Surgical Oncology Fellowship Training Program at MSKCC from 1991 to 1997, and I was Director of the Society of Surgical Oncology Training Committee, where I oversaw the administration of all surgical oncology fellowships across the nation from 1994 to 1999.
As part of my interest in spreading information we have learned about cancer at MSKCC, I have lectured extensively, both nationally and internationally, and authored a number of manuscripts and reviews on various surgical oncology topics. You can view a complete listing of my publications in PubMed by clicking on the PubMed icon to the right.
Appointments for New Patients
646-497-9072
Phone
212-639-8411
Education
MD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Residencies
New England Deaconess Hospital
Fellowships
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Board Certifications
Surgery
Clinical Expertise
General Surgical Oncology; Melanoma;
Sarcoma; Pancreatic Cancer; Gastric
Cancer
Department & Service
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