David Wuest

David L. Wuest, MD

Pathologist

My Role at MSK

Areas of Expertise

My Specialties

  • Transfusion Medicine
  • Stem Cell Lab Processing
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About Me

What I Do at MSK
  • Attending Pathologist
Get To Know Me

I am a board-certified pathologist and a specialist in blood-banking and tranfusion medicine. As Chief of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Blood Bank and Donor Room, the foccus of my expertise is the collection of blood from donors, the processing and distribution of blood and blood-components, and the transfusion of blood and blood components to patients.

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My clinical interests encompass the spectrum of transfusion medicine, starting from the management and testing of the blood we collect in order to ensure that we have a safe and adequate blood supply to meet the needs of our patients. Since blood supplies are limited, expensive, and carry some risks for recipients, we actively review all requests for transfusion to prevent unnecessary transfusions, and we continually evaluate guidelines for transfusion practice to determine if we can lower the number of patients who receive prophylactic transfusions.

The practice of transfusion medicine has become increasingly complex over the past decades as cancer treatments and those for related diseases have intensified and escalated. Patients undergoing transfusion can develop conditions including cytopenias (a reduction in one or more critical blood components), immunosuppression, graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), and infections. These have all increased the demand for transfusion therapy to support and treat patients with these complications and have increased the need for specially treated blood components (which are irradiated, leukocyte-reduced, and cytomegalovirus [CMV]-seronegative).

Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Donor Room provides a full range of services: We collect, process, and test standard blood components prepared from donations of both whole blood and particular blood components (obtained through a process called apheresis) from volunteer, autologous (self), or directed (intended for a specific patient) donors. We perform therapeutic apheresis, including photopheresis (in which blood is treated with drugs that are activated when exposed to ultraviolet light) to treat a variety of conditions, as well as cytapheresis (in which specific cell-based components are removed from the blood) to collect cellular components for autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation.

My Role at MSK

A pathologist is a doctor who uses a microscope to make a diagnosis from cell and tissue samples. They analyze the samples to learn the cause and effects of a health condition.

Areas of Expertise

My Specialties

  • Transfusion Medicine
  • Stem Cell Lab Processing
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, Ohio State University College of Medicine

Residencies

  • SUNY Downstate Medical Center
  • The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center

Fellowships

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles)

Board Certifications

  • Anatomic and Clinical Pathology
  • Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine

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.

Aetna

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO PPO, POS, Transplant

Aetna Medicare Advantage (MTA and NYC retirees only)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Anthem BCBS and other BCBS licensee plans

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

Anthem BCBS Health Plus

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Anthem Blue Cross Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO, DSN

Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, PPO

Blue Cross Blue Shield states outside of NY/NJ

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO PPO, POS

Carrum Health

In Network Coverage Type
Supplemental

Cigna

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, HMO

Connecticare

In Network Coverage Type
POS, EPO, HMO

Emblem

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Emblem to learn more.

Emblem Essential

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Emblem Medicare Advantage (Medicare Choice PPO Network and VIP Prime Network Only)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

Empire Essential

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Empire Plan / NYSHIP (Blue Cross/UnitedHealthcare split plan)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Fidelis

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO

Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Fidelis to learn more.

Fidelis Managed Medicaid & HARP

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Fidelis Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

First Health

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Healthfirst

In Network Coverage Type
EPO, HMO, PPO, POS

Offers a qualified health plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace. Call Healthfirst to learn more.

Healthfirst Managed Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Healthfirst Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, PPO

Healthsmart

In Network Coverage Type
PPO EPO

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey (HMO)

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey (PPO)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey Omnia Tier I (EPO)

In Network Coverage Type
EPO

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey Omnia Tier II (EPO)

In Network Coverage Type
EPO

Horizon Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

Husky CT Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Magnacare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO

Straight NJ Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Straight NY Medicaid

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Medicare Part A&B (traditional Medicare)

In Network Coverage Type
Federal Government

Multiplan/Beech Street/PHCS

In Network Coverage Type
Supplemental

MVP

In Network Coverage Type
PPO/OAP

Non-Participating Plans with Out of Network Benefits

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

NYC Medicare Advantage Plus for City Employees

In Network Coverage Type
TBD

Oscar

In Network Coverage Type
HMO/EPO

Oxford

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, EPO

World Trade Center Health Program (WTC)

In Network Coverage Type
State Government

Qualcare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, HMO

Tricare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

UMR

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS

United Healthcare

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, HMO

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.

Contact and Location

Dr. Wuest sees patients at one location.

Office Phone
Location
New York, NY
1275 York Avenue New York NY 10065

Looking to see a doctor at a different location? See all MSK locations.

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 Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapy 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

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Wuest’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.

David L. Wuest discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

No disclosures meeting criteria for time period


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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