Philip W. Kantoff is a medical oncologist. He is the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO) of Convergent Therapeutics. He served as the Chairman of Medicine at

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

between 2015 and 2021. He is best known for his contributions to the impact of DNA abnormalities in

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

and the discovery of therapies for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

Education

Kantoff grew up in Forest Hills, New York City. He attended

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where he earned his undergraduate and medical degrees through the

Program in Liberal Medical Education The Program in Liberal Medical Education, or PLME, is an eight-year combined baccalaureate-M.D. medical program offered by Brown University. Members of the program are simultaneously accepted into both the undergraduate College of Brown University ...

. He completed his residency in internal medicine at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

/ Bellevue Hospital, followed by a post doctorate at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

. He then completed his fellowship in medical oncology at the

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...

Career

Kantoff joined the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in a full-time position in genitourinary oncology in 1988. He held various roles at Dana-Farber, including director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, chief of the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology, and head of the Prostate Cancer Program. He was named the inaugural Nancy and Jerome Kohlberg Professor at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 2014. While at Dana-Farber, he also served as the lead investigator for Dendreon's clinical trials for

Sipuleucel-T Sipuleucel-T, sold under the brand name Provenge, developed by Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, LLC, is a cell-based cancer immunotherapy for prostate cancer (CaP). It is an autologous cellular immunotherapy. Medical uses Sipuleucel-T is indicated ...

, a therapeutic vaccine for

approved in 2010. After 28 years at Dana-Farber, Kantoff joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2015 to replace George J. Bosl as the Chairman of Medicine. He serves as a Professor of Medicine at the

Weill Cornell Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

. Kantoff won two 2018 Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Awards, one on Clonal Hematopoiesis and Prostate Cancer and another alongside fellow principal investigator Mark Pomerantz on DNA Damage Repair Alternations in Prostate Cancer. He was also awarded an NCI SPORE grant for prostate cancer from 2001 to 2015 and a NCI Program Project Grant in 2019 on DNA Damage Repair Alterations in Prostate Cancer. In 2018, Kantoff became an independent director at Context Therapeutics. In 2021, Kantoff was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of Convergent Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company based in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

that focuses on radiopharmaceutical cancer therapies. In 2022, Kantoff joined the board of directors of ESSA Pharma.

Significant publications

* * * * *

Awards

* Inaugural Nancy and Jerome Kohlberg Chair in Medicine, Harvard Medical School * Giants in Cancer Care * Elected member, Association of American Physicians, 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kantoff, Philip American medical researchers Cancer researchers 1955 births Living people Brown University alumni Alpert Medical School alumni