2010 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

MARTIN S. KARPEH, JR., MD

Chair, Department of Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center
Associate Director and Director of Surgical Oncology, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York

Dr. Martin Karpeh, a nationally renowned surgical oncologist, is currently serving in his third year as chairman of the Department of Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center, and as Associate Director and Director of Surgical Oncology of the Continuum Cancer Centers of New York (CCCNY). Continuum is a nonprofit healthcare network comprised on five historically distinguished New York City hospitals, including Beth Israel, St. Luke’s Hospital, Roosevelt Hospital, NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. While CCCNY is comprised of leaders in medical, radiation and surgical oncology who coordinate cancer care across the network, Karpeh’s responsibility includes recruiting top cancer surgeons into the cancer center. At Beth Israel, he works to develop all aspect of surgery, including cardiac, plastic, pediatric, vascular, critical care, thoracic and general surgery, and he maintains an active clinical practice that he limits to patients with cancer concerns.

An alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Karpeh served his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Penn. During that time, he did basic science research in cancer and nutrition supported by a Fellowship in nutrition and cancer at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. He researched the effect of dietary changes on the growth of tumors. After completing his residency, Karpeh continued on to a Fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). There, he developed the gastric cancer database, focusing his research in that area. At the time, gastric cancer was changing, and researchers and physicians were seeing more gastric cancers involving the distal esophagus above the perimeter of the stomach.

Karpeh notes, “This rising cancer seems to affect males in their middle, most-productive years (50-60), and those in the higher socio-economic class. While the causes are still unknown, there is a known correlation with esophageal reflux disease and obesity. Some studies have explored a possible connection to consumption of preservatives in food.” Karpeh has lectured extensively to increase awareness of gastro-esophageal cancer. Following the Fellowship, Karpeh joined the staff of MSKCC on the Gastric and Mixed Tumor Service, as well as the surgical faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College. He’s an expert in surgical procedures and management of gastric and esophageal cancers and other cancers affecting the gastrointestinal tract.

Prior to joining Beth Israel, Karpeh served as chief of Surgical Oncology at Stony Brook University Medical Center and Director of their Cancer Center, where he assembled highly qualified physicians from various departments into disease management teams, which developed protocols to enhance the Center’s ability to serve patients. In addition to a “robust clinical trials office” that seeks out active trials to bring to Stony Brook, Karpeh helped supervise the development of Stony Brook’s new state-of-the-art Cancer Center facility, overseeing the continuation of cancer research and cutting edge cancer treatment programs.

“The Cancer Center offers patients a sort of one-stop shopping where they can come in and see all their doctors under one roof. Imaging, treatment, cancer supportive services such as social work and nutrition are also available,” remarks Karpeh.

Karpeh continues teaching in surgery at Beth Israel, and today, has a faculty appointment at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His department has a highly sought after surgical residency program, and actively integrates the simulation of surgical procedures into the surgical training program to ensure technical proficiency and enhance patient safety. The department recently received a million-and-a-half-dollar gift from the Singer Foundation to expand and develop a state-of-the-art Simulation Lab at Beth Israel’s Petrie Division.

Karpeh has held numerous research grants, including several from the National Institutes of Health. Currently, Continuum is moving ahead with a grant application to conduct stem cell research in wound healing, and Karpeh is a principal investigator of a clinical trial involving tumor vaccines against pancreatic cancer.

Karpeh has been named one of New York Magazine’s “Best Doctors” for 2008 and 2009. He has served with the American Cancer Society, and is currently president of the New York Cancer Society, where he coordinates academic meetings and seminars. “It’s a great social networking activity connecting doctors. I believe this is good for patient care because it exposes doctors to current literature and cutting edge technology, and they become more aware of cancer clinical trials that might not be available in their institutions.”

Author of hundreds of peer-review papers, book chapters and abstracts, Karpeh is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the New York Surgical Society, the International Gastric Cancer Association, the American Surgical Association, the American College of Surgeons, and the Society of Surgical Oncology. He is a board member of Fighting Chance, a nonprofit organization that promotes the growth of services, at no cost, to cancer patients living on the East End of Long Island.

“Fighting Chance is interested in partnering with other groups across Long Island,” notes Karpeh, and has worked with the Navigator program at Harlem Hospital, a successful initiative to bring breast cancer treatment to individuals in the surrounding community. The program trains healthcare providers to go into the community and interact with patients to help them work through the process of getting treatment. “Fighting Chance has sent people through the training program to bring a similar effort to Long Island,” says Karpeh. “We believe this will be helpful to the hospitals in Southampton, Peconic Bay and Eastern Long Island in getting patients to use their resources.”

Karpeh volunteers his services with the Witness Project of Long Island, a breast health and breast cancer education program launched in partnership with the Town of Babylon in 2003 that reaches out to women in African American communities. “The project features women who have been successfully treated. They speak at Sunday services about their experiences and bear witness that they are survivors. It dispels many myths about breast cancer.”

Karpeh and his wife Julianne, a nurse in the Three Village School District, have three children: Quinn, a Fordham University graduate with a degree in economics who is now matriculating into pre-med at Stony Brook University; Chelsea, a junior in the nursing program at the University of Scranton; and Ashley, a senior at Ward Melville. In addition to golf and living in Stony Brook, he enjoys his house on Shelter Island, “which has become a really special place for the family.”

NETWORKING® January 2010