Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD

Bone Marrow Transplant Specialist

My Role at MSK

Areas of Expertise

My Specialties

  • Blood & Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation

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About Me

What I Do at MSK
  • Head, Division of Hematologic Malignancies
  • Alan N. Houghton Chair
Get To Know Me

I am a medical oncologist and physician-scientist who specializes in bone marrow transplants as a therapy for people with blood cancers, such as leukemia. With this treatment, also called a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, chemotherapy and radiation are used to kill the cancer in the patient’s blood and bone marrow. Then, new marrow or blood stem cells are given to help healthy blood cells grow back. In the clinic, I take care of patients undergoing these transplants. In the laboratory, I study questions related to this treatment approach and to immunotherapy for cancer in general.

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My research is currently focused on two areas:

1) Studying the role that microorganisms living in the intestine (microbiota) play in patients who are undergoing bone marrow transplants or are those receiving cancer immunotherapy.

2) Developing strategies to help the body rebuild the immune system after bone marrow transplantation. The focus of this work is in enhancing the activity of the thymus, a small organ in the chest that makes certain types of immune cells. This research is being translated into clinical trials that are currently ongoing at MSK.

From 2004 to 2008, I served as Chief Attending of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service. I have been Head of the Division of Hematologic Oncology at MSK since 2008. I’m also a professor of Medicine and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College and hold a joint appointment in the Immunology and Transplantation Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute. I am Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MSK and Chairman of the Board of DKMS, an international nonprofit organization devoted to bone marrow donor registration.

In 2010, I started the Susan and Peter Solomon Divisional Genomics Program, which focuses on targeted therapy approaches for patients with blood cancers. This program was instrumental in the development of the first genomic profiling test for hematological malignancies called FoundationOne™ Heme.

My Role at MSK

A bone marrow transplant specialist is a doctor with special training in bone marrow transplants.

Areas of Expertise

My Specialties

  • Blood & Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, University of Leiden

Residencies

  • Internal Medicine - Leiden University Hospital
  • Internal Medicine - Duke University Medical Center

Awards and Honors

  • Physician Scientist Award, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1996)
  • Amy Strelzer Manasevit Scholar Award, National Marrow Donor Program (1999)
  • Damon Runyon Scholar Award, Cancer Research Fund (2001)
  • Scholarship from the V Foundation for Cancer Research
  • Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2004)
  • Elected to the Association of American Physicians (2013)
  • Immunology Letters Lecture Award, European Federation of Immunological Societies (2014)
  • Delete Blood Cancer Award, DKMS (2015)
  • Till and McCulloch Lectureship Award, Stem Cell Network (2015)
  • Jaap de Graeff Award, Leiden University (2015)
  • Foreign member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020)

Fellowships

  • Hematology/Oncology - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
  • Medicine - Harvard Medical School
  • Pediatric Oncology/Immunology - Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Board Certifications

  • Medical Oncology

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 (City of NY retirees only, starting 9/1/23)

In Network Coverage Type
PPO

Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, PPO

Blue Cross Blue Shield New York

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, POS, EPO, HMO

Blue Cross Blue Shield states outside of NY/NJ

In Network Coverage Type
HMO, EPO PPO, POS

Blue Cross Health Plus

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

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

Emblem Essential

In Network Coverage Type
HMO

Emblem Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO

Empire Blue Cross Medicare Advantage

In Network Coverage Type
PPO, HMO, DSN

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

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

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.

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Current Patients

Request an appointment by logging on to MyMSK or calling your doctor’s office. If you aren’t registered for MyMSK, call 646-227-2593 for your Enrollment ID.

Contact and Location

Dr. van den Brink sees patients at one location.

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

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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

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

View Dr. van den Brink's Lab

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. van den Brink’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.

Marcel R.M. van den Brink discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • DKMS
    Fiduciary Role / Position; Professional Services and Activities
  • Garuda Therapeutics
    Professional Services and Activities
  • GlaxoSmithKline
    Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
  • Juno Therapeutics
    Intellectual Property Rights
  • Pluto Immunotherapeutics
    Equity; Professional Services and Activities
  • Seres Therapeutics
    Equity; Intellectual Property Rights; Professional Services and Activities
  • Smart Immune SAS
    Professional Services and Activities
  • ThymoFox, Inc.
    Equity

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 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, 2022 through disclosure submission in spring 2023). 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].


View all disclosures