Steven J. Burakoff, MD
Dean for Cancer Innovation
Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Cancer Medicine
Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences
Professor, Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics, Jack Martin Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
“My view has always been the way to change the outcome of cancer was to take ideas and research in the laboratory and share them with clinical investigators to create new clinical trials that would be brought to the patient,” says Steven J. Burakoff, MD, one of nine accomplished physicians and researchers who received the 2019 Jacobi Medallion—one of Mount Sinai’s highest awards.
“As a scientist, he’s made fundamental discoveries that are now helping millions of patients with cancer,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System. “And at Mount Sinai, since he came here years ago, he has taken a cancer program that was good and made it great.”
Dr. Burakoff’s contributions to the field of immunology are demonstrated by his authorship of more than 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals and his receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Immunologists. Dr. Burakoff was previously the Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute from 2007-2017.
“His role in in this effort has been at some of the most fundamental levels of understanding how our immune system functions, particularly how T-cells function,” says Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, Ward-Coleman Chair in Cancer Research; Director, The Tisch Cancer Institute; and Professor and Chair, Department of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “T-cells are very important in programming how we respond to foreign invasions but also how we respond to cancers.”
Dr. Burakoff came to Mount Sinai 11 years ago to build an integrated cancer center. “One of my focuses was to build a great cancer immunology program, which we have done,” he says. “I saw in immunology the opportunity to have our own immune system stimulated to fight against diseases, especially cancer. At this point, we’re seen as one of the beacons of hope in terms of using the immune system in cancer treatments.”
Prior to coming to New York, Dr. Burakoff was the Margaret M. Dyson Professor at Harvard Medical School, the first recipient of the Harvard Medical School Excellence in Mentoring Award, and was a member of the Board of Trustees at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
“The Jacobi Medallion really is a statement from my peers saying that they feel that I made a difference here,” Dr. Burkoff says. “We’re one of the leaders in the treatment of metastatic bladder cancer, liver cancer, and we have a vigorous breast cancer program. To be part of that effort, to be a part of that mission, it gets me up every morning, and I want to come in and do something important. It’s an extremely exciting time to be in this field.”
“I consider Steven exceptional in that he has the Midas touch in every role that he agrees to assume,” says Lisa M. Satlin, MD, Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Pediatrics; Professor and System Chair, Jack and Lucy Clark Department of Pediatrics; and Pediatrician-in-Chief, Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. “With the decades of experience that he’s had building cancer institutes, just think of how privileged we are in pediatrics to benefit from the years of experience that he brings to bear.”
