Geogetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Michael B. Atkins, MD, is Deputy Director of the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC and Professor of Oncology and Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) at Georgetown University School of Medicine.  He also leads the Melanoma Disease Group within the Medstar Georgetown Cancer Network and the joint Immunotherapy Initiative between Georgetown-Lombardi and Hackensack University Medical Center.

Prior to his move to Georgetown, Dr. Atkins was Deputy Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office, Director of the Cutaneous Oncology Program, and Director of the Biologic Therapy Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).  In addition, he was the leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.  He served as Director of the DF/HCC Kidney Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant and co–principal investigator of the DF/HCC Skin Cancer SPORE since their inceptions in 2003 and 2001, respectively.

Dr. Atkins completed his medical education at Tufts University School of Medicine, and postgraduate training as a Resident and Chief Resident in the Department of Medicine and Fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Tufts New England Medical Center (Tufts-NEMC). He was on staff in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Tufts-NEMC from 1987 until joining the staff at BIDMC in 1997.

Dr. Atkins’ major research interests are cancer immunotherapy, treatment of melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, predictive markers for response to biologic therapy, and antiangiogenic and targeted therapies.  His research work has been funded continuously by the National Cancer Institute, various foundations, and several pharmaceutical companies since 1987.

He is considered an international authority on melanoma, kidney cancer and cancer immunotherapy.  He has been on the editorial boards of several journals, including Cancer, Journal of Translational Medicine, Kidney Cancer Journal, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and is Associate Editor to Journal of Immunotherapy.  He has authored over 350 peer reviewed original research articles, book chapters, review articles and editorials and has edited three books. He also edits the Melanoma and Kidney Cancer sections of Uptodate: a digital medical textbook.

Dr. Atkins also serves on the advisory boards of the Melanoma Research Foundation, the Kidney Cancer Association, is a member of the NCI Recombinant DNA Advisory Counsel, the CTEP Immunotherapy Task Force and is past president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.