Dr. Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa MD, MBA

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA, is an Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. He received his medical degree from American University of Beirut in Beirut, Lebanon. He then completed his postdoctoral training in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology at Yale University School of Medicine, received his MBA from Columbia University, and is completing his JD at Fordham University.

Dr. Abou-Alfa specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHC), gallbladder cancer (GB), and fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC). His research primarily focuses on incorporating small biological molecules and checkpoint inhibitors into standard cancer therapies.

Dr. Abou-Alfa has served as the principal investigator or co-investigator for more than 50 clinical trials to date. In recent years, he led key research efforts that contributed to the US Food and Drug Administration approval of several treatments for HCC including sorafenib and cabozantinib, as well as the approval of treatments for IHC and GB including pemigatinib, ivosidenib, and infigratinib. Dr. Abou-Alfa also led the research team evaluating positive outcome dual immunotherapy with durvalumab plus tremelimumab in the HIMALAYA study. He and his team were the first to report on germline alterations associated with biliary tract cancers.

Dr. Abou-Alfa serves and has served on several advisory boards including for the American Liver Foundation, the Fibrolamellar Carcinoma Foundation, the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, and the Blue Faery Foundation and is a regular volunteer contributor to the Binay Foundation in Nepal. He strongly advocates for greater awareness of cancer’s global impact and leads several international educational and research efforts with different institutions worldwide.