Dr. Sylvia Adams

Dr. Adams directs the Breast Cancer Center at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and serves as Professor of Medicine at the Grossman School of Medicine. Her academic career began with medical training at Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, followed by internal-medicine residency at Winthrop University Hospital and hematology–oncology fellowship at NYU. These steps laid a foundation in translational research that continues to inform her daily practice. 

 

Her laboratory and clinical investigations focus on harnessing the immune system against breast cancer. She has led multicohort trials such as KEYNOTE-086, which evaluated pembrolizumab monotherapy in metastatic triple-negative disease and established immune checkpoint blockade as a treatment pillar. Ongoing work explores biomarker-driven combinations of PD-one inhibition with targeted or DNA-repair agents. Grants from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Cancer Institute support these efforts, reflecting sustained peer-reviewed recognition.

 

Beyond experimental therapeutics, Dr. Adams advocates for equitable access to care. She has published on breast-cancer presentation in minority populations, chaired immuno-oncology task forces at the National Cancer Institute and provides bilingual counselling in English and German. These activities demonstrate a commitment to advancing science while meeting the practical and cultural needs of diverse patients.