Lawrence H. Schwartz, MD
Radiologist
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Areas of Expertise
My Specialties
- Oncologic Imaging, Including CT and MRI
- Validation of Imaging Biomarkers
- Medical Informatics
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About Me
- Chair, Department of Radiology
- Hedvig Hricak Chair in Radiology
As Chair of the Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), I oversee a team of radiologists renowned for their expertise in oncologic imaging across all disease areas and all diagnostic and therapeutic imaging modalities.
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In the more than two decades that I have practiced, I have cared for patients with many different types of cancer. Radiology and imaging studies are usually the gateways to decisions about the options that will best treat the patient’s disease. To that end, patients and their caregivers rely on the quality and timeliness of their imaging to shed light on the next steps of their cancer treatment journey. My mission — and the mission of our radiology department — is to provide expert consultation, diagnostic, interventional, and therapeutic imaging in as timely and as convenient a manner as possible. This is what all patients who require imaging can expect at MSK. Our goal is for patients to feel secure and supported by our expert radiologists, all of whom are dedicated to serving patient imaging needs accurately, quickly, and compassionately.
My path to radiology began during my third year of medical school. I became fascinated not only with the technology of the radiology equipment, but also with what these imaging devices could tell us diagnostically about a patient’s disease. Later, during my training as a cross sectional imaging fellow using imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, and computed tomography (CT), I came to realize how critical imaging is to cancer care, from screening to diagnosis to treatment planning. The fascination that I felt as I gained my early exposure to the field of radiology — and, by extension, the power of medical imaging — has carried throughout my career as a radiologist.
Radiologic technology has evolved rapidly in recent years, resulting in non-invasive imaging and treatment approaches that have revolutionized cancer care. To my leadership role at MSK I bring a deep appreciation for radiology’s dynamism. Medical imaging is always advancing technologically. These new developments create opportunities for us to integrate cutting-edge technology into cancer care to improve decision-making and patient outcomes. I have dedicated my career to exploring novel applications for new imaging technology, with a focus on refining clinical care and supporting drug discovery. My research has supported the development and validation of imaging biomarkers in cancer care. It has also led to the adoption of new techniques to evaluate and correlate imaging characteristics with molecular features of disease processes, such as disease progression.
I have published more than 300 studies and presently serve as the Chair of the Imaging Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group and of the Alliance for Clinical Trials. I am a founding member of the Quantitative Imaging Biomarker Alliance and the Quantitative Imaging Network, and I also serve on other national-level boards dedicated cancer and its research.
My current work centers on the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology in radiology. There is no field in medicine that is currently using AI more than radiology, and although AI is in its infancy, it has the potential to transform clinical decision-making. I am presently working with medical oncologists to carry out retrospective and prospective evaluations of this technology. The insights from these studies will help us create and use AI-supported tools in radiology. AI is one of the most exciting advances in medicine today, and I believe that its impact on patient care will be felt in the near future.
Another area of rapid growth and critical importance to our patients is theranostics (a combination of the words “therapy” and “diagnostics”). Theranostics uses diagnostic testing (frequently, imaging) to determine the presence of a molecular target for which a targeted drug can be used. Often, this can be done non-invasively through molecular imaging. This type of imaging allows us to detect and quantify tumor burden (the total amount of cancer in the body). The imaging aspect of theranostic testing provides crucial diagnostic information that first helps us to understand each patient’s cancer, down to a cellular level, and then helps us to select the most precise therapy possible.
MSK is a world leader in theranostics, and the advances in this emerging area are owed, in part, to the multidisciplinary nature of cancer care at MSK. Having “grown up” at MSK during the early stages of my career, I can fully appreciate what a special institution this is, with incredible scientists and clinicians working together to advance the field of oncology and the individual care of each patient. I always say that when one thinks of radiology, one immediately thinks of our high-tech machines, but it is truly the people — and in the case of cancer care, the team of clinicians — that are so vital to both diagnostics and therapeutics. We still have a lot to do in the field of radiology, and there is no better place in the world to advance our science than with the teams at MSK.
A radiologist is a doctor with special training in using imaging to diagnose and treat disease. Imaging includes X-rays, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
My Specialties
- Oncologic Imaging, Including CT and MRI
- Validation of Imaging Biomarkers
- Medical Informatics
Education
- MD, Boston University School of Medicine
Residencies
- Diagnostic Radiology - New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center
- Internal Medicine (Internship) - Winthrop University Hospital, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Awards and Honors
- Castle Connolly: America’s Top Doctor (2024)
Fellowships
- Cross Sectional Imaging (MRI/US/CT) - Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Board Certifications
- Diagnostic Radiology
Insurance Information
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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.
Clinical Trials
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 trialsResearch and Publications
Maitland ML, Wilkerson J, Karovic S, Zhao B, Flynn J, Zhou M, Hilden P, Ahmed FS, Dercle L, Moskowitz CS, Tang Y, Connors DE, Adam SJ, Kelloff G, Gonen M, Fojo T, Schwartz LH, Oxnard GR. Enhanced Detection of Treatment Effects on Metastatic Colorectal Cancer with Volumetric CT Measurements for Tumor Burden Growth Rate Evaluation. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Dec 15
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Dercle L, Zhao B, Gönen M, Moskowitz CS, Connors DE, Yang H, Lu L, Reidy-Lagunes D, Fojo T, Karovic S, Maitland ML, Oxnard GR, Schwartz LH. An imaging signature to predict outcome in metastatic colorectal cancer using routine computed tomography scans. Eur J Cancer. 2022 Jan;161:138-147. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2021.10.029. Epub 2021 Dec 13. PMID: 34916122
Lu L, Dercle L, Zhao B, Schwartz LH. Deep learning for the prediction of early on-treatment response in metastatic colorectal cancer from serial medical imaging. Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 17;12(1):6654. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26990-6. PMID: 34789774; PMCID: PMC8599694.
Seymour L, Bogaerts J, Perrone A, Ford R, Schwartz LH, Mandrekar S, Lin NU, Litière S, Dancey J, Chen A, Hodi FS, Therasse P, Hoekstra OS, Shankar LK, Wolchok JD, Ballinger M, Caramella C, de Vries EGE; RECIST working group. iRECIST: guidelines for response criteria for use in trials testing immunotherapeutics. Lancet Oncol. 2017 Mar;18(3):e143-e152. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(17)30074-8. Epub 2017 Mar 2. Erratum in: Lancet Oncol. 2019 May;20(5):e242. PMID: 28271869; PMCID: PMC5648544.
Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Schwartz’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.
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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.
Lawrence H. Schwartz discloses the following relationships and financial interests:
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Bristol-Myers Squibb
Professional Services and Activities
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Merck & Co 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.
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