New York’s Advancements in Immunotherapy Research
New York ranks No. 5 in the nation for mesothelioma and asbestosis deaths. The state’s high ranking is attributed to its extensive industrial and commercial use of asbestos products in buildings and countless job sites.
Asbestos-related mortality is expected to increase in New York because of the Sept. 11 attacks that released asbestos dust across lower Manhattan. This is a top concern for pleural mesothelioma specialist and thoracic surgeon Dr. Raja Flores at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Mesothelioma cancer centers and researchers in New York have made major strides in immunotherapy research. For example, several locations throughout the state have contributed to advances in CAR T-cell therapy for mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma Treatment Centers in New York
Mesothelioma patients in New York visit Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan for its experts and its extensive history of research on asbestos-related diseases.
Patients also visit NYU Langone Medical Center to participate in innovative clinical trials and receive care from a team of mesothelioma doctors. Facilities include two hospitals and six clinical centers located throughout Manhattan.
Upstate residents visit Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo for its surgeons specializing in peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma. Patients looking for clinical trials will find a number of active studies at Roswell Park.
Top Mesothelioma Doctors in New York
Patients in New York turn to Flores, a widely respected thoracic surgeon and longtime pleural mesothelioma specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital. He has conducted many mesothelioma studies and is an active patient advocate in the mesothelioma community.
Mesothelioma patients who don’t qualify for surgery see Dr. Daniel H. Sternman, a pleural mesothelioma expert and the director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s Multidisciplinary Pulmonary Oncology Program. Sternman is an expert in gene therapy and is board-certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine.
Peritoneal mesothelioma patients in New York turn to Dr. John M. Kane III at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to access the most effective mesothelioma treatment. The procedure helps half of those who receive it live at least five years.
Dr. Raja Michael Flores
Mount Sinai Hospital
Dr. Raja Michael Flores is a professor and chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Flores is a widely respected expert in pleural mesothelioma and is a recognized leader in the field of thoracic surgery for pioneering video-assisted surgical techniques for lung cancer and mesothelioma.
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Dr. Daniel H. Sterman
NYU Langone Medical Center
Dr. Daniel H. Sternman is the director of the Multidisciplinary Pulmonary Oncology Program at NYU Langone Medical Center and a thoracic oncology expert. He is double board-certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine and a respected expert on pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer.
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Dr. Ory Wiesel
Maimonides Medical Center
Dr. Ory Wiesel is a thoracic surgeon specializing in pleural mesothelioma treatment at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. He trained under mesothelioma experts at Brigham and Women's Hosptial in Boston.
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Dr. John M. Kane III
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Surgical oncologist Dr. John Kane III treats patients with peritoneal surface malignancies, including mesothelioma, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York.
Get in touchResearch and Clinical Trials in New York
New York is home to groundbreaking mesothelioma research. A number of hospitals and cancer centers across the state are participating in unique and innovative mesothelioma clinical trials, including research on CAR T-cell therapy.
Mesothelioma Clinical Trials in New York
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Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is participating in a phase II clinical trial evaluating whether the addition of photodynamic therapy can improve overall survival in patients with epithelioid pleural mesothelioma.
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Five locations in New York are participating in a phase I and phase II clinical trial that is recruiting peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma patients to test the safety and efficacy of the immunotherapy drug Bavencio (avelumab) in combination with stereotactic body radiation therapy.
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Four locations throughout New York are participating in a phase I clinical trial testing the safety of CAR T-cell therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma. The novel treatment involves the reprogramming of a patient’s T cells — a type of white blood cell — to attack the cancer.
Find Mesothelioma Clinical Trials in New York
Get free help finding and enrolling in a mesothelioma clinical trial today!
Find a Clinical TrialMesothelioma Survivors from New York
Darlene Micciche
Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survivor
When Darlene Micciche was first told she had cancer, it wasn’t peritoneal mesothelioma. Her first diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer had a worse survival rate, so she was relieved when a second opinion revealed her true diagnosis of peritoneal mesothelioma. Kane performed her cytoreductive surgery with heated chemotherapy at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We looked him up before we went because my oncologist [in Rochester] said you have to be comfortable with your surgeon,” said Micciche. “We ended up loving him from the start.”
Peter L.
Pleural Mesothelioma Survivor
Peter L. was 73 years old when he was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in 2013. Doctors told him he qualified for surgery and he decided to undergo a pleurectomy and decortication surgery in New York. About a year after the successful surgery, he joined an immunotherapy clinical trial. Two years later, the trial ended and Peter was told he had been receiving a placebo instead of the active immunotherapy drug. Despite receiving a placebo, he had no new cancer growth. “Most clinical trials fail. I know that, but you’re always looking to be that one in a million. I don’t think anyone should give up hope of finding it,” Peter said. “If the trial doesn’t help you, at least it will help someone who comes after you.”
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Karen Selby, RN
Registered Nurse and Patient Advocate
Karen Selby joined Asbestos.com in 2009. She is a registered nurse with a background in oncology and thoracic surgery and was the regional director of a tissue bank before becoming a Patient Advocate at The Mesothelioma Center. Karen has assisted surgeons with thoracic surgeries such as lung resections, lung transplants, pneumonectomies, pleurectomies and wedge resections. She is also a member of the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators.
4 Cited Article Sources
The sources on all content featured in The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com include medical and scientific studies, peer-reviewed studies and other research documents from reputable organizations.
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Mount Sinai. (2020). Mount Sinai Hospital.
Retrieved from: https://www.mountsinai.org/ -
NYU Langone Health. (2020). NYU Langone Medical Center.
Retrieved from: https://med.nyu.edu/ -
Maimonides Medical Center. (2020). About Maimonides.
Retrieved from: https://www.maimonidesmed.org/about-us/brooklyns-leading-hospital - Roswell Park. (2020). Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Retrieved from: https://www.roswellpark.org/
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Last Modified February 11, 2020
