Dr. Richard D. Carvajal - Medical Oncology / Melanoma Oncology

Dr. Richard D. Carvajal is a medical oncologist whose career has focused on bringing new therapies to patients facing melanomas that resist standard treatment. After leading developmental therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering and then directing the Melanoma Service at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, he was recruited by Northwell Health to serve as Deputy Physician-in-Chief and Director of Medical Oncology, a role that lets him unite phase-I drug development with community cancer programs across Long Island and New York City. He also holds an academic appointment at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, where he teaches fellows the fundamentals of translational trial design and mentors laboratory teams investigating oncogenic drivers unique to uveal and mucosal melanoma. His laboratory collaborators analyse circulating tumor DNA to detect MAP-kinase reactivation after targeted therapy and to discover resistance bypass pathways that can be intercepted with next-generation inhibitors, work that underpins several active first-in-human protocols. Findings are shared at major congresses, where Dr. Carvajal is invited speaker and guideline contributor.

 

Pivotal studies led by Dr. Carvajal demonstrated that selective MEK inhibition with selumetinib improves progression-free survival in metastatic uveal melanoma, a cancer previously bereft of systemic options, and his early work with c-KIT inhibitors opened durable responses for patients with acral and mucosal melanoma harboring KIT mutations. He has since served as global principal investigator for trials testing tebentafusp, nivolumab plus ipilimumab, and HLA-directed bispecific molecules, each expanding the armamentarium against rare melanoma subsets. Beyond melanoma, he co-chairs a precision-oncology consortium evaluating genotype-matched agents across solid tumors and helps steer basket studies that enroll participants by molecular signature rather than organ site. Under his direction Columbia’s Experimental Therapeutics Program doubled its portfolio of first-in-class compounds, a growth mirrored at Northwell where he now oversees the launch of an early-phase unit embedded within community clinics to ease access for underserved populations. His publication record spans NEJM, Lancet Oncology, and JCO, evidencing consistent authorship of practice-changing data. Journals frequently invite him to write expert editorials on emerging biomarkers.

 

Education and advocacy are central to Dr. Carvajal’s mission. He directs the Uveal Melanoma Registry, an international natural-history database that informs trial eligibility criteria, and he founded Melanoma on the Move, a virtual symposium that connects caregivers with investigators to demystify experimental therapy. At national meetings he moderates case-based sessions that translate genomic reports into treatment plans, emphasising plain language so that patients and trainees alike grasp the significance of allele frequency and loss of heterozygosity. Professional societies rely on his balanced perspective; he sits on the NCCN Melanoma Panel, the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, and the Melanoma Research Alliance Scientific Steering Committee, where he champions trial designs that incorporate patient-reported outcomes. Despite administrative demands he maintains a busy clinic, believing that direct patient contact sharpens scientific questions. Colleagues describe his consultations as candid, data-rich, and compassionate, qualities that earned institutional awards for humanistic care and that continue to guide every research hypothesis he pursues. His leadership style prizes transparency, collaboration, and empathy.