Memorial Sloan Kettering nuclear physician Neeta Pandit-Taskar

Neeta Pandit-Taskar, MD

Nuclear Medicine Physician & Early Drug Development Specialist

Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Pediatric cancers
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Pediatric brain tumors

My Specialties

  • Molecular imaging
  • PET-CT scan
  • PET-MRI
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Dr. Pandit-Taskar's Office Information
Languages: English
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Get to Know Me

I am a clinician-scientist who is board certified in nuclear medicine and nuclear cardiology. I have more than two decades of broad experience in clinical nuclear medicine and related research. I am the Clinical Director of the Center for Radioimmunotargeted Imaging and Theranostics of the Ludwig Center for Cancer immunotherapy.

I joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in 2000. Before coming to MSK, I was head of the nuclear medicine department at a cancer center in India. At MSK, I work closely with medical oncologists and surgeons to provide conventional and novel methods of diagnosing and treating patients with radiolabled agents in a variety of malignancies. I have a special interest in treating pediatric cancers. 

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I provide clinical care in all aspects of radiopharmaceutical imaging (PET/CT, PET/MR, SPECT/CT, nuclear cardiology) and radionuclide therapy, and also conduct research involving the development of novel methods for diagnosis and treating cancers using radiolabeled agents. Over the years my work, both clinical and research, has increasingly focused on therapeutic applications, including theranostics – which is the combination of therapies and diagnostics – and treatment response assessment, with large and small radiolabeled molecular targeting agents.   

My research involves radioimmunotargted agents, small molecules and peptides, alpha emitters, and the use of novel PET tracers and techniques like PET/CT and PET/MR for early assessment of disease status and response. As the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) RO1 grant from the National Cancer Institute, I am investigating new imaging techniques to detect and monitor neuroblastoma in children with PET/MR. The goal is to reduce radiation exposure and provide a rapid single-day imaging assessment to monitor disease and therapy response. I am also co-leading studies in theranostics in pediatric malignancies such as neuroblastoma, brain tumors, and other tumors including desmoplastic small round cell tumors.

My focus is on developing novel theranostic strategies with radiopharmaceuticals. I am studying the use of radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies to detect and treat cancers. My early research focused on the optimization of biodistribution and understanding the kinetics of radioimmunotargeted agents in variety of cancers. These include: Radiolabeled antibodies 8H9 and 3F8 for pediatric cancers such as metastatic neuroblastoma and brain tumors, and radioimmunoPET imaging and radioimmunotherapy for renal cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, lymphoma, and colon cancer. 

More recently, I have extended this work to utilize and optimize smaller molecules, ligands, and peptides for diagnoses and treatment. I have also looked at the use of alpha-emitter-conjugated radiolabeled antibodies in the treatment of malignancies. I am studying methods to improve the delivery of radiation to the tumors using image assessment and dose estimations to provide personalized therapy. Using novel hybrid PET/MR imaging, I am studying novel tracers to better diagnose and monitor treatment effect, which can also help guide management and therapy planning in the future. This will allow for lower radiation exposures when imaging pediatric patients.

I routinely perform radiopharmaceutical therapy with 131I-MIBG for neuroendocrine tumors including neuroblastoma, pheochromocytoma, and paraganglioma; bexxar and zevalin therapy for lymphoma; and Radium-di-chloride (xofigo) or samarium radionuclides to treat metastatic bone disease pain. I also perform microsphere therapy for liver metastasis (SIRT) with 90 Y sirspheres/theraspheres. 

What I Do at MSK

I’m a nuclear medicine physician, a doctor with special training in using radioactive drugs to diagnose and treat disease.

I'm an early drug development specialist, which is a scientist who tests new drugs to treat cancer. I have special training in research studies, also known as clinical trials.

  • Director, Nuclear Medicine Pediatrics
Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Pediatric cancers
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Pediatric brain tumors
  • Thyroid cancer and conditions
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Liver cancer and conditions
  • Prostate cancer and conditions
  • Bone cancers and conditions

My Specialties

  • Molecular imaging
  • PET-CT scan
  • PET-MRI
  • Theranostics
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, Lady Hardinge Medical College (India)

Residencies

  • Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York)

Fellowships

  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Board Certifications

  • Nuclear Medicine

Awards and Honors

  • Castle Connolly: America’s Top Doctor (2025)
  • Castle Connolly: Top AAPI Doctor (2024)
  • Castle Connolly: Exceptional Women in Medicine (2024)
  • Castle Connolly: America’s Top Doctor (2024)
  • Top Doctors New York Metro Area, Castle Connolly (2023)
  • Exceptional Women in Medicine Award, Castle Connolly (2023)
  • Castle Connolly: America's Top Doctors (2023)
  • Castle Connolly: New York Magazine Top Doctors (2012-2020)

Insurance Information

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Contact and Location

Dr. Pandit-Taskar sees patients at one location.

Office Phone
Location
New York, NY
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
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

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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

View Dr. Pandit-Taskar's Research

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Pandit-Taskar’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.

Neeta Pandit-Taskar discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

  • Actinium
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
  • Illumina
    Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
  • ImaginAb
    Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)
  • Progenics
    Professional Services and Activities
  • Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc.
    Professional Services and Activities (Uncompensated)

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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