Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD

I immigrated to New York City with my family when I was a child, and I was always interested in a career in medicine. I chose the specialty of lung cancer because I realized that this was an area where I could make the greatest difference. As an immigrant, I wanted to give back to the community and my goal has always been to do my best to elevate the care and treatment options I can give my patients.

At NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, I specialize in treating people with lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other malignant lung conditions. Our team provides outstanding clinical care and also provides the most novel and advanced clinical trial options.

Lung cancer is a complex disease but there are so many different treatments available today. I believe that every patient is different and each person’s needs should be accommodated with a personalized treatment plan. At NYU Langone, we make sure that we understand each patient’s cancer and treatment type through genetic testing to ensure that we provide the best and most effective treatment for that patient.

Through my research, I have provided new insight into the genetic and environmental causes of lung cancer. This has contributed to developing and testing novel lung cancer therapies. I have also identified the role of specific genes that normally control cell growth and survival but become drivers of abnormal cancerous growth in a mutated form. My recent investigations have focused on understanding the sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies and immunotherapy, with the goal of developing new and better combination therapies for lung cancer patients.

As a physician–scientist, I am excited by the latest advances in cancer research and treatments that have directly improved cancer patient survival. I am fervently committed to expanding cancer research and clinical care with the goal of changing the way we treat lung cancer to make it possible to develop a cure for a majority of patients.

I am a member of the Lung Cancer Research Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board and also a member of The American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, the nation’s oldest honor societies for physician–scientists. I have published more than 250 research studies and my work has been reported in the top peer-reviewed medical and cancer journals. I am the recipient of the 2010 Team Science Award from the American Association of Cancer Research.