Alexander N. Shoushtari, MD

Alexander N. Shoushtari, MD

Melanoma Medical Oncologist & Cellular Therapist

Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Skin melanoma
  • Mucosal melanoma
  • Eye/uveal/ocular melanoma

My Specialties

  • Cellular therapy
  • Clinical trials
  • Targeted therapy
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Dr. Shoushtari's Office Information
Languages: English
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Get to Know Me

I am a board-certified medical oncologist who exclusively sees people with melanoma, and I have the largest practice in our Melanoma Service. In 2022, I saw 123 new patients with melanoma and conducted 1,648 patient visits.

Within the global melanoma community, I am best known for treating patients with acral, mucosal, and uveal (eye) melanomas. These less common types of melanoma arise in the eye or on hairless surfaces of the body and can often be more difficult to treat than the more common skin melanomas. I work hard with our world-class surgeons, dermatologists, and radiation specialists to coordinate interdisciplinary, team-based care that gets patients the best possible results.

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Treatment for melanoma, like much of modern medicine, is changing quickly and is becoming more sub-specialized. This is generally a very good thing; it ensures doctors like me are at the cutting edge of care for your melanoma. Sometimes, however, navigating a cancer diagnosis and its treatment options can feel like an endless maze of appointments. I became a medical oncologist to help lead people through this difficult process. The foundation of excellent cancer care is good communication. I am a child of two immigrants, so I know how confusing, complicated, and rushed medical interactions can feel when doctors use a lot of jargon and type their notes while they are in the room with you. I pride myself not only on clear, compassionate communication, but also on giving people the time they need to process information. This ensures we can make the best decisions on how to manage melanoma together. When my patients and their loved ones finish an appointment with me, they can expect to understand what is happening with their cancer, what the next steps are in their medical care, and what the months and years ahead will look like.

Our Melanoma Service is passionate about giving people with melanoma access to the best new treatment options. I recently led MSK’s trials of tebentafusp, the first FDA-approved therapy specifically for uveal melanoma. I am proud to say that MSK was one of the first places in the world to offer tebentafusp to patients with this type of melanoma. More recently, I was appointed to MSK’s Cellular Therapy Service to treat patients with tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, an experimental cell therapy that has shown promise for melanomas that do not respond to standard immune therapy. My scientific publications focus on the new drugs we test in clinic and how we can use a patient’s genetic information to understand if they might benefit from treatment and why.

When I am not working or sleeping, I am usually spending time with loved ones or trying to improve my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

What I Do at MSK

I'm a melanoma medical oncologist, which is a cancer doctor who specializes in melanoma. This includes superficial spreading, nodular, lentigo maligna, and acral lentiginous melanomas. It also includes eye, mucosal, and rare skin melanomas.

A cellular therapy specialist is a doctor with special training in using cell therapies to treat health conditions such as cancer. Therapies can include chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy.

  • Associate Attending Physician
Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Skin melanoma
  • Mucosal melanoma
  • Eye/uveal/ocular melanoma

My Specialties

  • Cellular therapy
  • Clinical trials
  • Targeted therapy
  • Immunotherapy
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, Rush Medical College

Residencies

  • Internal Medicine - University of Chicago Medical Center

Fellowships

  • Medical Oncology - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center/Weill Cornell Medical College

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine
  • Medical Oncology

Awards and Honors

  • Wings of Hope Award, Melanoma Research Foundation
  • Young Investigator Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • Junior Investigator Award, Ocular Melanoma Foundation

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.

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Current Patients
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Contact and Location

Dr. Shoushtari sees patients at two locations.

Office Phone
Location
New York, NY
Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion
160 East 53rd Street New York NY 10022
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David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
530 East 74th Street New York NY 10021
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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.

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Clinical Trials

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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.

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Research and Publications

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Shoushtari’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

Disclosures

Doctors and faculty members often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community.

MSK requires doctors and faculty members to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public.

Alexander N. Shoushtari discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • Erasca, Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities

If you’re a patient at MSK and would like more information about your doctor’s external relationships, please talk with your doctor.

The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.

This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2023 through disclosure submission in spring 2024). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

Learn more about MSK’s COI policies here. For questions regarding MSK’s COI-related policies and procedures, email MSK’s Compliance Office at [email protected].


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