Dr. David B. Solit

Dr. David B. Solit, MD, is a medical oncologist and laboratory scientist specializing in genitourinary cancers, including cancers of the prostate, bladder, kidney, and testis. He serves as a member of the Genitourinary Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and as Director of the Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology (CMO). In his clinical practice, Dr. Solit treats patients with chemotherapy, targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and combinations of these approaches, working alongside surgeons and radiation oncologists to develop individualized treatment plans for each patient.

Dr. Solit is deeply involved in clinical trials focused on kinase inhibitors, a class of targeted drugs that block pathways inside cancer cells responsible for growth and spread. A particular focus of his research is the study of "extraordinary responders," patients with difficult-to-treat cancers who respond exceptionally well to therapies that do not work in most others with the same disease. His laboratory in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program completed the first whole-genome analysis of a patient with bladder cancer who had a complete and durable response to a novel targeted drug effective in only a small minority of patients. Through this analysis, his team identified what was genetically unique about that patient's tumor and is now testing the same drug in other patients whose tumors share a similar genetic profile.

As Director of the CMO, Dr. Solit leads a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, geneticists, bioinformaticians, and laboratory scientists dedicated to integrating molecular and clinical information to develop therapies tailored to each patient's cancer. His work bridges the laboratory and the clinic, ensuring that advances in genomic science translate into meaningful treatment options for patients. Committed to providing the highest standard of care, Dr. Solit and his colleagues work to ensure that every patient at MSK has access to both conventional and experimental therapies best suited to their individual needs.