Dr. David H. Abramson

Dr. David H. Abramson, MD, is a board-certified ophthalmologist with specialty training in ophthalmic oncology, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of cancers on the surface of the eye, within the eye, and in the surrounding tissues including the lid and orbit. He serves as Chief of the Ophthalmic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), the only service of its kind dedicated exclusively to ophthalmic oncology within a cancer hospital in the United States. He holds joint appointments in the Departments of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Radiation Oncology. Dr. Abramson and his team employ advanced diagnostic tools including standardized A and B scans, high-frequency anterior segment ultrasound, ultrasound biomicroscopy, and optical coherence tomography, offering patients access to coordinated, multidisciplinary care and novel therapies not available elsewhere in the country.

Dr. Abramson is internationally recognized for his expertise in treating both adult and pediatric ophthalmic cancers. For adults with uveal melanoma, he offers brachytherapy with radioactive iodine, proton beam radiation, and surgery, and he collaborated on clinical trials that contributed to the FDA approval of tebentafusp in 2022 for metastatic uveal melanoma. His work in retinoblastoma is equally pioneering. In 2006, he introduced ophthalmic artery chemosurgery, a technique delivering high-concentration, low-dose chemotherapy directly into the eye's blood vessels through a catheter placed in the groin. This approach reversed a historical rate of eye removal from 95 percent down to just 5 percent, preserving both vision and ocular health in the vast majority of children. MSK has more experience with this technique than any institution in the world, and Dr. Abramson has personally taught it to physicians across the globe. MSK is also the only institution worldwide using cell-free DNA liquid biopsy through MSK-ACCESS to diagnose and monitor retinoblastoma, and Dr. Abramson's team pioneered the use of high-dose intravitreal topotecan for metastatic retinoblastoma. His retinoblastoma center, operating continuously since 1914, is the longest-running program of its kind in the world. His findings have been published extensively in the Journal of the American Medical Association and leading eye disease and cancer journals, with a body of work exceeding 800 books, chapters, original articles, scientific reviews, and multimedia contributions.

A globally sought lecturer and educator, Dr. Abramson has delivered more than 500 lectures in countries spanning France, Italy, England, Switzerland, Israel, China, India, Australia, and across South America and Africa. He served as editor of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's instruction book on ophthalmic oncology. His honors include awards from the Swiss Society of Ophthalmology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Helen Keller Services for the Blind, and the New York State Ophthalmological Society, along with the Honor Award, Senior Honor Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Outside of medicine, he has served as First Marshal of his Harvard College class for more than 50 years and notably escorted theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking at Harvard's commencement in 1995 when Hawking received his honorary degree, an experience he recounted in a 2018 article published in Harvard Magazine.