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Yale Cancer Center
Yale New Haven Hospital
20 York Street, Ste North Pavilion 4
New Haven, CT 06510
  • Yale Cancer Center
    Yale New Haven Hospital
    20 York Street, Ste North Pavilion 4
    New Haven, CT 06510

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD

Medical Oncology, Thoracic Oncology
Telehealth is available
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Patient type treated
Adult
Accepting new patients
Yes
Referral required
From patients or physicians
Board Certified in
Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology

Biography

Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, is chief of medical oncology and a pioneer of personalized medicine and immunotherapy whose goal is to cure lung cancer.

Dr. Herbst, who is also associate director for translational science at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center, says the way to a cure is understanding how lung cancer grows and finding new targets and new immunologic ways to enhance therapy to treat it. He adds that understanding and preventing metastasis and treatment resistance—two factors that often result in cancer fatality—is critical to our ability to increase survivorship rates.

“A favorite part of my job is leading and mentoring the physicians and teams that work together to treat patients with cancer,” he says. “We have built integrated clinical and research programs at multiple care centers around the state to deliver the best care to patients. I really like bringing the group together and building teams.”

Dr. Herbst says he has been interested in cancer from an early age. “As an undergraduate at Yale, I worked in the very same hallway where I work now, on the emerging science of electrobiology that impacts how cells grow and divide, which is the very basis of cancer,” he says. “I also enjoy clinical medicine, where I can help patients and blend science and cancer care.”

He says the best part of his job is witnessing new drugs helping patients improve. “That really just makes my day to see people benefit from the treatments we have developed, some of them here at Yale,” he says.

To reassure patients, Dr. Herbst says he tells patients that they “have come to a place where we are devoted to their care—to the quality of their care and the innovation of their care—and that, here at Yale, they will have the very best treatments and multimodality care to help their disease.”

Titles

  • Ensign Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Professor of Pharmacology
  • Deputy Director, Yale Cancer Center
  • Chief of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital
  • Assistant Dean for Translational Research, Yale School of Medicine
  • Program Director, Master of Health Science - Clinical Investigation Track (MHS-CI)

Education & Training

  • MMS
    Harvard University, Clinical Translational Research (1997)
  • Fellowship
    Brigham and Women`s Hospital (1997)
  • Fellowship
    Dana Farber Cancer Institute (1997)
  • Residency
    Brigham and Women`s Hospital (1994)
  • MD
    Cornell University Medical College (1991)
  • PhD
    Rockefeller University, Molecular Biology (1990)
  • BS
    Yale University, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry (1984)
  • MS
    Yale University, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (1984)

Additional Information

Locations
Yale Cancer Center
Yale New Haven Hospital
20 York Street, Ste North Pavilion 4
New Haven, CT 06510
  • Yale Cancer Center
    Yale New Haven Hospital
    20 York Street, Ste North Pavilion 4
    New Haven, CT 06510

Biography

Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, is chief of medical oncology and a pioneer of personalized medicine and immunotherapy whose goal is to cure lung cancer.

Dr. Herbst, who is also associate director for translational science at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center, says the way to a cure is understanding how lung cancer grows and finding new targets and new immunologic ways to enhance therapy to treat it. He adds that understanding and preventing metastasis and treatment resistance—two factors that often result in cancer fatality—is critical to our ability to increase survivorship rates.

“A favorite part of my job is leading and mentoring the physicians and teams that work together to treat patients with cancer,” he says. “We have built integrated clinical and research programs at multiple care centers around the state to deliver the best care to patients. I really like bringing the group together and building teams.”

Dr. Herbst says he has been interested in cancer from an early age. “As an undergraduate at Yale, I worked in the very same hallway where I work now, on the emerging science of electrobiology that impacts how cells grow and divide, which is the very basis of cancer,” he says. “I also enjoy clinical medicine, where I can help patients and blend science and cancer care.”

He says the best part of his job is witnessing new drugs helping patients improve. “That really just makes my day to see people benefit from the treatments we have developed, some of them here at Yale,” he says.

To reassure patients, Dr. Herbst says he tells patients that they “have come to a place where we are devoted to their care—to the quality of their care and the innovation of their care—and that, here at Yale, they will have the very best treatments and multimodality care to help their disease.”

Titles

  • Ensign Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Professor of Pharmacology
  • Deputy Director, Yale Cancer Center
  • Chief of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital
  • Assistant Dean for Translational Research, Yale School of Medicine
  • Program Director, Master of Health Science - Clinical Investigation Track (MHS-CI)

Education & Training

  • MMS
    Harvard University, Clinical Translational Research (1997)
  • Fellowship
    Brigham and Women`s Hospital (1997)
  • Fellowship
    Dana Farber Cancer Institute (1997)
  • Residency
    Brigham and Women`s Hospital (1994)
  • MD
    Cornell University Medical College (1991)
  • PhD
    Rockefeller University, Molecular Biology (1990)
  • BS
    Yale University, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry (1984)
  • MS
    Yale University, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (1984)

Additional Information