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Michael J. Zelefsky, MD
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Michael J. Zelefsky, MD Chief, Brachytherapy Service
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I am a board-certified radiation oncologist and co-leader of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Genitourinary Disease Management Team -- a multidisciplinary group of physicians who work together to treat patients with urologic malignancies.
As an internationally recognized expert in the field of radiation therapy, I am Chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Brachytherapy Service. Brachytherapy, which we use to treat many types of cancer, is the delivery of radiation using seeds implanted directly in a tumor.
Our prostate brachytherapy program, which I have helped develop and enhance since joining the staff in 1990, is known for its depth of experience and cutting-edge approach in treating men with prostate cancer. For patients with advanced or aggressive prostate cancer, I have significant expertise using high-dose-rate brachytherapy and temporary brachytherapy, in which patients receive several high-dose treatments either as a boost or as the sole treatment. I also have experience using brachytherapy in patients whose tumor has recurred after external-beam radiation therapy or seed implant, as well as expertise using image-guided stereotactic radiosurgery for areas of metastases (spread) such as bone or lymph nodes.
In addition, I was instrumental in pioneering the use of IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy, which is computer-guided delivery of high doses of radiation directly to the tumor) and IGRT (image-guided radiotherapy, radiation beams targeted precisely to the tumor) for treating men with prostate cancer.
(Learn more about radiation therapy for prostate cancer.)
I am Editor-in-Chief of Brachytherapy, a medical journal that addresses all aspects of this sub-specialty, and Chairman of the National Patterns of Care Study for Genitourinary Cancers. I am a past president of the American Brachytherapy Society.
For my work in this field, I have been honored to receive several awards including the Boyer Award for Excellence in Clinical research, the Outstanding Teaching Award in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the 2009 Henschke Medal (the highest award of the American Brachytherapy Society for achievements in Brachytherapy), and the 2009 Emanuel Van Descheuren Award for Excellence in Translational Research.
I lecture nationally and internationally about radiation treatments for prostate cancer.
Phone
212-639-6802
Education
MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Residencies
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Board Certifications
Radiation Oncology
Clinical Expertise
Prostate Cancer (Brachytherapy, Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy [IMRT], Image-Guided Radiation Therapy [IGRT]); Breast Brachytherapy; Genitourinary Cancer; Head and Neck Cancer; Skin Cancer
Department & Service
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