Michael A. Postow, MD

Michael A. Postow, MD

Melanoma Medical Oncologist

Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Melanoma

My Specialties

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

I am the Chief of the Melanoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where my practice is devoted solely to the care of people with melanoma. It is my privilege to lead an outstanding group of medical oncologists, nurses, and researchers with world-leading expertise in the treatment and management of melanoma.

Many FDA-approved therapies for patients with melanoma were developed by our team, including the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo®) and ipilimumab (Yervoy®). The regimen has since been recognized as a major scientific advance in melanoma by The American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Our service not only takes great pride in offering our patients the latest and best interventions available, but also in affording access to drugs in development when standard approaches might not be helping. People with melanoma have more therapeutic opportunities than ever before, and I believe that we as a field can do even better. To that end, I have spent my professional life working with oncologists from around the world to expand the portfolio of melanoma treatments, and I am glad to provide fellow doctors with advice when they reach out to me with questions on the optimal approaches or how to manage side effects.

As a board-certified medical oncologist, I spend most of my time with patients. Creating close, trusting relationships with patients and their families as we craft treatment plans tailored to their unique needs is one of the most gratifying aspects of my work. I appreciate that a diagnosis of melanoma can understandably make one feel nervous, and I believe that it is critical to take care of the whole person and their support network in a friendly and personal way. I look forward to caring for you and your loved ones as if you are one of my family members.

In my free time, I enjoy skiing, hiking, and trying to keep up with my toddlers and triathlete wife.

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.

  • Chief, Melanoma Service
  • Co-Director, Melanoma Disease Management Team
Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Melanoma

My Specialties

  • Clinical trials
  • Immunotherapy
  • Targeted therapy
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, New York University School of Medicine

Residencies

  • Internal Medicine - Harvard University/Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Fellowships

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

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine
  • Medical Oncology

Awards and Honors

  • Solid Tumor Teacher of the Year Award, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (2022, 2019)
  • Best Teaching Service Award (Melanoma, 2022)
  • 40 Under 40 in Cancer Award, The Lynx Group (2020)
  • Julia Zelmanovich Young Alumni Award, New York University Grossman School of 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.

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

Contact and Location

Dr. Postow sees patients at one location.

Office Phone
Location
New York, NY
Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion
160 East 53rd Street New York NY 10022
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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.

See all Melanoma Service doctors

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.

Search clinical trials

Research and Publications

Postow MA, Goldman DA, Shoushtari AN, Betof Warner A, Callahan MK, Momtaz P, Smithy JW, Naito E, Cugliari MK, Raber V, Eton O, Nair SG, Panageas KS, Wolchok JD, Chapman PB. Adaptive Dosing of Nivolumab + Ipilimumab Immunotherapy Based Upon Early, Interim Radiographic Assessment in Advanced Melanoma (The ADAPT-IT Study). J Clin Oncol. 2022 Apr 1;40(10):1059-1067. doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.01570. Epub 2021 Dec 20. PMID: 34928709; PMCID: PMC8966970.

Postow MA, Knox SJ, Goldman DA, Elhanati Y, Mavinkurve V, Wong P, Halpenny D, Reddy SK, Vado K, McCabe D, Ramirez KA, Macri M, Schwarzenberger P, Ricciardi T, Ryan A, Venhaus R, Momtaz P, Shoushtari AN, Callahan MK, Chapman PB, Wolchok JD, Subrahmanyam PB, Maecker HT, Panageas KS, Barker CA. A Prospective, Phase 1 Trial of Nivolumab, Ipilimumab, and Radiotherapy in Patients with Advanced Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Jul 1;26(13):3193-3201. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-3936. Epub 2020 Mar 23. PMID: 32205463; PMCID: PMC7959513.

Postow MA, Sidlow R, Hellmann MD. Immune-Related Adverse Events Associated with Immune Checkpoint Blockade. N Engl J Med. 2018 Jan 11;378(2):158-168. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1703481. PMID: 29320654.

Postow MA, Chesney J, Pavlick AC, Robert C, Grossmann K, McDermott D, Linette GP, Meyer N, Giguere JK, Agarwala SS, Shaheen M, Ernstoff MS, Minor D, Salama AK, Taylor M, Ott PA, Rollin LM, Horak C, Gagnier P, Wolchok JD, Hodi FS. Nivolumab and ipilimumab versus ipilimumab in untreated melanoma. N Engl J Med. 2015 May 21;372(21):2006-17. doi: 10. PMID: 25891304

Pocket Oncology. Drilon AE, Postow MA eds. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2014.

Publications on PubMed

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

Michael A. Postow discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Clinical Education Alliance, LLC
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Erasca, Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Intellisphere, LLC
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Merck & Co Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities
  • MJH Associates
    Professional Services and Activities
  • OncLive
    Professional Services and Activities
  • PeerView Institute for Medical Education (PVI)
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Pfizer, Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Replimune, Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities
  • UptoDate
    Intellectual Property Rights
  • WebMD
    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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