How This MSK Center Takes Care of Younger Patients With Colorectal and Gastrointestinal Cancers

This is the story of one of those patients, Rebecca Genter Lerner, a 32-year-old diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer just weeks before her wedding day.
Video Details
 Memorial Sloan Kettering gastroenterologist Robin Mendelsohn

Robin Mendelsohn, MD

Gastroenterologist

Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Colon cancer
  • Colon polyps
  • Lynch syndrome

My Specialties

  • Colonoscopy
  • Upper endoscopy
  • Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
View all expertise
Dr. Mendelsohn's Office Information
Languages: English
Request an Appointment
Our Care Advisors can answer many of your questions. They will connect you with the best healthcare provider for your needs.
Back to top

Get to Know Me

I am a gastroenterologist who focuses on taking care of gastrointestinal issues in people with cancer. I have a particular interest in working with people who are at high risk for developing colon cancer and rectal cancer because of hereditary conditions, such as Lynch syndrome, as well as those with young onset colon and rectal cancers. I also provide specialized nutrition support for people with cancer.

Read more

I chose gastroenterology because it is a wonderful combination of clinical patient care, endoscopic procedures, and research. I love caring for people with a wide variety of diseases and enjoy being part of the entire spectrum of cancer-related care, from screening to end-of-life care.

I have expertise in performing a variety of gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures, including colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. I am also skilled at performing advanced endoscopic techniques, such as complex polypectomies and direct percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomies (placing a feeding tube directly in the small intestine). Cancer can sometimes create obstacles to daily activities, such as eating, and many of the procedures I perform help patients feel better by taking care of these quality of life needs for them.

In recent years, we have been able to reduce colon cancer rates because more people are getting screened appropriately. Though this is important progress, we have begun to see an increase in the number of younger people being diagnosed with this disease. My research aims to find out why this number is rising. I am also investigating how best to care for younger people with colon cancer to ensure we are addressing their specific long-term concerns and goals, such as fertility. 

What I Do at MSK

I'm a gastroenterologist (GAS-troh-EN-teh-RAH-loh-jist), which is a doctor with special training in the gastrointestinal (GI) system. This includes the esophagus, intestines, stomach, bile ducts, gallbladder, liver, and pancreas.

  • Co-Director, Center for Young Onset Colorectal and Gastrointestinal Cancers
Areas of Expertise

Conditions I Treat

  • Colon cancer
  • Colon polyps
  • Lynch syndrome
  • Barrett's esophagus
  • Bile duct stones
  • Swallowing problems
  • Esophageal dysplasia
  • Family history of gastrointestinal (GI) tract cancer
  • Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma)
  • Ampullary cancer
  • Esophageal cancers and conditions
  • Stomach (gastric) cancer
  • Gastric carcinoid tumors
  • Gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM)
  • Gastrointestinal obstructions
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Pancreatitis
  • Pancreatic cysts
  • Polyposis syndromes

My Specialties

  • Colonoscopy
  • Upper endoscopy
  • Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
  • Argon beam coagulation
  • Bravo capsule test
  • Capsule endoscopy
  • Colorectal cancer screening
  • EGD test
  • Endoscopy
  • Fecal transplant
  • Lower endoscopy
  • Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) feeding tube
  • Percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy (PEJ) feeding tube
  • Polypectomy
  • Radiofrequency ablation (RFA)
  • Sigmoidoscopy
  • Stent placement
  • Stool test
Education & Honors

Education

  • MD, Georgetown University School of Medicine

Residencies

  • NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

Fellowships

  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine
  • Nutrition
  • Gastroenterology

Awards and Honors

  • Florence Lefcourt Award for Endoscopic Research and Public Education Outreach, New York Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (2015)

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.

Make an Appointment

Women talking
New Patients
Scheduling an appointment is easy. Click or call 646-497-9898— we’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Make an Appointment
Current Patients
Request an appointment by logging in to MSK MyChart or calling your Care Team. If you are not enrolled in MSK MyChart, ask your Care Team to send you an invitation. You can also go to MSK MyChart and select “Sign up now.”

Contact and Location

Dr. Mendelsohn sees patients at one location.

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

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 Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Service doctors

See all Young Onset 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. Mendelsohn’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.

Robin Mendelsohn 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].


View all disclosures

Related topics: