Physician’s Profile

Bret Taback, MD

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1
Top Doctor: 
1
Director, Breast Surgery Fellowship
Expertise: 
Breast & Soft Tissue Surgery
Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Surgery
Breast Disease
Cancer Care
Mastectomies
Melanoma
Melanoma Surgery
Sarcoma
Sentinel Node Biopsy For Breast
Specialist in Breast Cancer Surgery
Specialist in Melanoma Surgery
Surgery
About: 

Dr. Bret Taback is a nationally recognized surgical oncologist in the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center department of surgery. Dr. Taback is a leader in the clinical management of melanoma, sarcoma and skin/soft tissue tumor surgery. Dr. Taback is the Director of the Melanoma and Sarcoma Program and Director of the Breast Surgery Fellowship. Dr. Taback received his MD degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston , and completed his general surgery residency at Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital.

During that time he completed a Basic Science Research Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School in Boston. Following this, he completed a fellowship in Complex Surgical Oncology at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica, California. Dr. Taback is a member of a number of organizations and societies including Society of Surgical Oncology, American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has published and authored numerous peer review manuscripts, abstracts and presentations, as well as book chapters over the years in notable publications such as Annals of Surgery, Annals of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. He is a clinical investigator with SWOG and Alliance for clinical trials. Dr. Taback has served on numerous hospital committees including tumor boards, Institutional Review Boards, Oncology Operations Council and is the American College of Surgeon’s Commission on Cancer Physician Liaison for NYP Hospital. Most recently, Dr. Taback is a noted Castle Connolly Top Doctor.

Honors: 

Member, International Scientific Committee, The 4th International Sentinel Node Congress, Los Angeles, CA (2004)

Co-Chairman, The 3rd International Conference on Circulating Nucleic Acids in Plasma and Serum & Serum Proteomics (CNAPS III), Santa Monica, CA (2003)

Young Investigator Award, The 3rd International Sentinel Node Congress, Yokohama, Japan (2002)

Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Orlando, FL (2002)

Elected to Associate Member Council, American Association for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, PA (2001-2004)

Scholarship Award to attend Epidemiology and Biostatistics Conference, Berlex Oncology Foundation, Hackensack, NJ (2001)

Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Fellowship Award, Santa Monica, CA (2000)

Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology, New Orleans, LA (2000)

Interests: 
Circulating nucleic acids in plasma and serum
Micrometastasis and minimal residual disease surveillance
Tumor genetics and profiling
Publications: 
Shinozaki M, Hoon D, Giuliano A, Hansen N, Wang H, Turner R, Taback B. Distinct hypermethylation profile of primary breast cancer is associated with sentinel lymph node metastasis. Clin Cancer Res. 11:2156-2162, 2005
Taback B, Hoon D. Advances in circulating nucleic acids and serum proteomics: synopsis of the 3rd International Conference. Clin Chem. 50:2230-2232, 2004
Taback B, Hoon D. Circulating nucleic acids in plasma and serum: past, present and future. Curr Opin Mol Ther. 6:273-278, 2004
Taback B, O'Day S, Hoon D. Quantification of circulating DNA in the plasma and serum of cancer patients. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1022:17-24, 2004
Taback B, Hoon D. Circulating nucleic acids and proteomics of plasma/serum: clinical utility. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1022:1-8, 2004
Taback B, Bilchik A, Saha S, Nakayama T, Wiese D, Turner R, Kuo C, Hoon D. Peptide nucleic acid clamp PCR: A novel K-ras mutation detection assay for colorectal cancer micrometastases in lymph nodes. Int J Cancer 111:409-414, 2004
Takeuchi H, Morton D, Kuo C, Turner R, Elashoff D, Elashoff R, Taback B, Fujimoto A, Hoon D. Prognostic significance of molecular upstaging of paraffin-embedded sentinel lymph nodes in melanoma patients. J Clin Oncol. 22:2671-2680, 2004
Fujimoto A, O'Day S, Taback B, Elashoff D, Hoon D. Allelic imbalance on 12q22-23 in serum circulating DNA of melanoma patients predicts disease outcome. Cancer Res. 64:4085-4088, 2004
Taback B, Hoon. Microsatellite alterations as diagnostic and prognostic molecular markers in patients with cancer. In: R.M. Nakamura, W. Grody, J. Wu, R. Nagle (eds), Cancer Diagnostics: Current and Future Trends. Humana Press, Inc., Totowa, New Jersey, 2004; 19:395-428
Hoon D, Spugnardi M, Kuo C, Huang S, Morton D, Taback B. Profiling epigenetic inactivation of tumor suppressor genes in tumors and plasma from cutaneous melanoma patients. Oncogene. 23:4014-4022, 2004
Fujimoto A, Takeuchi H, Taback B, Hsueh E, Elashoff D, Morton D, Hoon D. Allelic imbalance of 12q22–23 associated with APAF-1 locus correlates with poor disease outcome in cutaneous melanoma. Cancer Res. 64:2245-2250, 2004
Takeuchi H, Taback B, Kuo C, Hoon D. Clinicopathological utility of molecular staging for melanoma patients undergoing sentinel lymphadenectomy.
Ann Surg Oncol. 11(3 Suppl):152S-5S, 2004
Taback B, O'Day S, Boasberg P, Shu S, Fournier P, Elashoff R, Wang H, Hoon D. Circulating DNA microsatellites: molecular determinants of response to biochemotherapy in patients with metastatic melanoma. J Natl Cancer Inst. 96:152-156, 2004
Kuo C, Hoon D, Takeuchi H, Turner R, Wang H, Morton D, Taback B. Prediction of disease outcome in melanoma patients by molecular analysis of paraffin-embedded sentinel lymph nodes. J Clin Oncol. 21: 3566-3572, 2003
Taback B, Hoon D. Ultrastaging of Melanoma Patients: Molecular Detection of Micrometastatic Disease. In: J.F. Thompson, D.L. Morton, and B.R. Kroon (eds.), Melanoma. Martin Dunitz 2004; 13:148-163
Taback B, Giuliano A, Hansen N, Singer F, Shu S, Hoon D. Detection of tumor-specific genetic alterations in bone marrow from early stage breast cancer patients. Cancer Res. 63: 1884-1887, 2003
Hoon D, Fujimoto A, Shu S, Taback B. Assessment of genetic heterogeneity in tumors using laser capture microdissection. Methods Enzymol. 356:302-309, 2002
Taback B, Hashimoto K, Kuo CT, Chan A, Giuliano AE, Hoon D. Molecular lymphatic mapping of the sentinel lymph node. Am J Pathol. 161: 1153-1161, 2002
Taback B, Chan AD, Kuo CT, Bostick P, Wang H, Giuliano AE, Hoon D. Detection of occult metastatic breast cancer cells in blood by a multi-molecular marker assay: correlation with clinical stage of disease. Cancer Res. 61: 8845-8850, 2001
Taback B, Giuliano A, Hansen N, Hoon D. Microsatellite alterations detected in the serum of early stage breast cancer patients. In: P. Anker and M. Stroun (eds.), Circulating Nucleic Acids in Plasma or Serum II. Ann NY Acad Sci. 945: 22-30, 2001
Taback B, Nguyen P, Hansen N, Edwards K, Conway K, Giuliano A. Sentinel lymph node biopsy for patients with local breast cancer recurrence following breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy. Ann Surg Oncol. 12(2 Suppl): S66, 2005
Taback B, Hansen N, Conway K, Giuliano A. Recurrence patterns following a negative sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with early-stage breast cancer. Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 23: 560a, 2004
Taback B, Lai R, Giuliano A, Singer F, Hansen N, Hoon, D. Identification of tumor-associated epigenetic alterations in bone marrow and serum from early-stage breast cancer patients using a hypermethylation gene panel. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research 45: 772, 2004
Taback B, Lai R, Giuliano A, Singer F, Hansen N, Hoon D. Detection of tumor-related epigenetic alterations in bone marrow from early-stage breast cancer patients using a hypermethylation gene panel. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 19: 1578, 2004
Taback B, Hoon D. Quantitation of DNA in the serum and plasma of cancer patients. Clinical Chemistry 49: 3, 2003
Kuo C, Spugnardi M, Taback B, Hoon D. Epigenetic inactivation of tumor suppressor genes in paired plasma and tumors from cutaneous melanoma patients. Clinical Chemistry 49: 5, 2003
O'Day S, Fujimoto A, Taback B, Elashoff D, Hoon D. Allelic imbalance on 12q22-23 locus in serum DNA of melanoma patients predicts response to biochemotherapy. Clinical Chemistry 49: 7, 2003
Taback B, Kuo C, Takeuchi H, Turner R, Wang H, Morton, D, Hoon D. Molecular analysis of melanoma patients paraffin-embedded sentinel lymph nodes predicts disease outcome. Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 22: 713, 2003
Taback B, Giuliano A, Hansen N, Singer R, Hoon D. Identification of tumor-specific genetic alterations in the bone marrow of early stage breast cancer patients. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research 44: 563, 2003
Shinozaki M, Giuliano A, Taback B, Hoon D. CpG hypermethylation of the glutathione S-transferase P1 and retinoic acid receptor-β genes in primary breast cancer correlates with lymph node metastasis. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research 44: 1233, 2003
Fujimoto A, Takeuchi H, Shu S, Hsueh E, Taback B, Hoon D. Prognostic significance of LOH of the APAF-1 locus in malignant melanoma. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research 44: 1080, 2003
Taback B, Shu S, Hansen N, Giuliano A, Hoon D. Detection of tumor-specific DNA in breast cancer patients' sera. Department of Defense Era of Hope Proceedings, Vol II: P24-7, 2002
Taback B, O'Day S, Fournier P, Hoon D. Serum genetic markers as surrogates of response to biochemotherapy in patients with metastatic melanoma. Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 21: 339a, 2002
Taback B, Nakayama T, Wiese D, Turner R, Bilchik A, Saha S, Hoon D. Detection of colorectal micrometastasis in sentinel lymph nodes using the novel approach of PCR PNA clamping. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research. 42: 612, 2001
Taback B, Giuliano AE, Hansen N, Hoon D. Circulating DNA microsatellites with LOH in early stage breast cancer patients serum is associated with increased tumor proliferation. Clinical Chemistry, 47: 365, 2001
Hoon D, Taback B, Morton DL, Fujiwara Y. DNA microsatellite markers with LOH in plasma from stage III melanoma patients is associated with a decreased survival. Clinical Chemistry, 47: 363, 2001
Taback B, Nakayama T, Turner, R, Morton, D, Hoon, D. Genetic clonality of primary melanoma and subsequent in-transit metastases. Melanoma Research, 11(Supp 1): S206, 2001
Taback B, Morton D, Fujiwara Y, O’Day S, Fournier P, Hoon, D. Circulating DNA microsatellite markers is associated with a poorer prognosis in high-risk melanoma patients undergoing therapeutic interventions. Melanoma Research, 11(Suppl 1): S75, 2001
Taback B, Chan A, Kuo C, Nguyen D, Giuliano A, Hoon D. Molecular detection of metastatic cells in the blood of breast cancer patients. Department of Defense Era of Hope Proceedings, Vol I: 121, 2000
Taback B, Giuliano AE, Nguyen D, Nakayama T, Hansen N, Martino S, Fournier PJ, Hoon D. Tumor-related free DNA microsatellites detected in breast cancer patients serum correlates with disease progression. Proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology19: 606a, 2000