Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Esophageal cancers
  • Stomach (gastric) cancer

My Specialties

  • Targeted therapy
  • Immunotherapy
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Get to Know Me

I’m a medical oncologist and physician scientist who cares for people with gastrointestinal cancers such as esophageal cancer and stomach (gastric) cancer.

I see patients at the Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).

I also lead research on gastrointestinal cancer biology and creating new cancer therapies. We are in an era with great potential to connect scientific discoveries and new technologies to develop new treatments for our patients. While this is far from easy, I am confident that we are on the path to meaningful impact.

Caring for those with cancer is not just a privilege, it also motivates me as a scientist to focus my work on my patients’ most important needs. Managing a cancer diagnosis is both a scientific and personal challenge. As a scientist, I work to understand the biology of these diseases and how we can use this knowledge to develop better treatments.

At the same time, I know how cancer can affect each person and their family. As a physician, I aim to provide the best and most compassionate care for patients during a difficult time in their lives. My combined role as a scientist and physician helps me to do what is best for each person.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife, two teenage sons, and our somewhat eccentric rescue dog. We love to travel and explore places and food from not just around the world but also the neighborhoods of New York City and towns in the Hudson valley. I am currently managing a borderline unhealthy obsession with the New York Times puzzles.

What I Do at MSK

I'm a gastrointestinal (GAS-troh-in-TES-tih-nul) medical oncologist, which is a cancer doctor who specializes in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. This includes anal, colorectal, esophageal, gastric (stomach), liver, and pancreatic cancers. We also treat GI stromal tumors and neuroendocrine tumors.

  • Attending Physician
  • Physician-Scientist
Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Esophageal cancers
  • Stomach (gastric) cancer

My Specialties

  • Targeted therapy
  • Immunotherapy
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, Duke University

Residencies

  • Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

Fellowships

  • Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Board Certifications

  • Medical Oncology

Awards and Honors

  • Inducted into American Association of Physicians (2022)
  • Team Science Award, American Association for Cancer Research (2020)
  • Discovery Award, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (2017)
  • Inducted into American Society for Clinical Investigation (2017)
  • Eugene D. O'Kelly Award, American Cancer Society (2016)

Insurance Information

Understanding your insurance options is an important part of managing your cancer care. We have relationships with many common healthcare providers and plans.

Don't see your carrier or plan? We can help you understand your coverage.

If you don't have health insurance or are worried that your care may not be fully covered, our financial assistance programs may be able to help.

If you have questions about insurance, call us at 646-497-9176.

Make an Appointment

Current Patients
Request an appointment by calling your Care Team or messaging them in MSK MyChart.

Colleagues

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.

See all Gastrointestinal Oncology Service doctors

Clinical Trials

Smiling doctors in the lab
Find a Clinical Trial for You

Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.

You may be able to participate in a clinical trial even if you are new to MSK. Search our online directory to find trial information and see more about who can participate.

Search clinical trials

Research and Publications

Zhang H, Schaefer A, Wang Y, Hodge RG, Blake DR, Diehl JN, Papageorge AG, Stachler MD, Liao J, Zhou J, Wu Z, Akarca FG, de Klerk LK, Derks S, Pierobon M, Hoadley KA, Wang TC, Church G, Wong KK, Petricoin EF, Cox AD, Lowy DR, Der CJ, Bass AJ*. Gain-of-Function RHOA Mutations Promote Focal Adhesion Kinase Activation and Dependency in Diffuse Gastric Cancer. Cancer discovery. 2020;10(2):288-305. Epub 2019/11/28. CD-19-0811. PubMed PMID: 31771969; PMCID: PMC7007383.

Chan EM, Shibue T, McFarland JM, Gaeta B, Ghandi M, Dumont N, Gonzalez A, McPartlan JS, Li T, Zhang Y, Bin Liu J, Lazaro JB, Gu P, Piett CG, Apffel A, Ali SO, Deasy R, Keskula P, Ng RWS, Roberts EA, Reznichenko E, Leung L, Alimova M, Schenone M, Islam M, Maruvka YE, Liu Y, Roper J, Raghavan S, Giannakis M, Tseng YY, Nagel ZD, D’Andrea A, Root DE, Boehm JS, Getz G, Chang S, Golub TR, Tsherniak A, Vazquez F, Bass AJ*. WRN helicase is a synthetic lethal target in microsatellite unstable cancers. Nature. 2019;568(7753):551-6. Nature. Epub 2019/04/12. PubMed PMID: 30971823; PMCID: PMC6580861.

Liu, Y, Sethi, NS, Hinoue T, Schneider BG, Cherniack, AD, Sanchez-Vega F, Seoanoe JA, Farshidfar F, Bowlby R, Islam M, Kim J, Chatila W, Akbani R, Kanchi RS, Rabkin CS, Willis JE, Wang KK, McCall SJ, Mishra L, Ojesina AI, Bullman S, Pedamallu CS, Lazar AJ, Sakai R, The Cancer Genome Atlas Netowrk, Thorsson V, Bass AJ*, Laird PW. Comparative Molecular Analysis of Gastrointestinal AdenocarcinomasCancer Cell, 2018 Apr 9;33(4):721-735

Pectasides, E., Stachler, M. D., Derks, S., Liu, Y., Maron, S., Islam, M., Alpert, L., Kwak, H., Kindler, H., Polite, B., Sharma, M. R., Allen, K., O’Day, E., Lomnicki, S., Maranto, M., Kanteti, R., Fitzpatrick, C., Weber, C., Setia, N., Xiao, S. Y., Hart, J., Nagy, R., Kim, K. M., Choi, M. G., Min, B. H., Nason, K. S., O’Keefe, L., Watanabe, M., Baba, H., Lanman, R., Agoston, A. T., Oh, D. J., Dunford, A., Thorner, A. R., Ducar, M. D., Wollison, B. M., Coleman, H. A., Ji, Y., Posner, M. C., Roggin, K. K., Turaga, K., Chang, P., Hogarth, K., Siddiqui, U., Gelrud, A., Ha, G., Freeman, S. S., Rhoades, J., Reed, S., Gydush, G., Rotem, D., Davison, J., Imamura, Y., Adalsteinsson, V., Lee, J., Bass, A. J.* and Catenacci, D. V. Genomic Heterogeneity as a Barrier to Precision Medicine in Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discovery. 2017. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-17-0395. PubMed PMID: 28978556

TCGA Consortium.* Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Gastric AdenocarcinomaNature, 2014 Sep 11;513(7517):202-9 (*Sole Corresponding Author)

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Bass’s journal articles. Pubmed is an online index of research papers and other articles from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

See all on PubMed