Joseph Minhow Chan, MD, PhD

Medical Oncologist

Clinical Expertise

Lung Cancer; Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer; Small Cell Lung Cancer; Small Cell Lung Cancer Transformation

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New Patient Appointments

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Mon–Fri,
Accepted Insurance Providers

Dr. Chan accepts the following list of insurance providers. Select your insurance provider to see more details.

Aetna

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with Aetna HMO, POS, and PPO plans. Aetna does not include us in any of the plans you can purchase through the insurance exchanges or through Medicare. Please ask your insurance if you need a one-time referral. MSK has an agreement with the Aetna Transplant Program for all Aetna's commercial products.

Blue Distinction Center

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Blue Distinction Center for bone marrow transplant and CAR-T.

Health Insurance Exchanges

We understand that there may be many complexities involved with insurance coverage purchased through the health exchange network of the Affordable Care Act. We’re here to help. If you have questions about how your care will be covered by an insurance provider, or need help navigating a change in coverage, please call us at 646-227-3378; if you are not a resident of New York, you can call us at 866-248-1274. Our team is here to listen to your concerns and assist you in any way we can. We want our care to be as accessible and affordable for as many people as possible.

CIGNA

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with CIGNA's HMO, POS, and PPO plans. CIGNA does not include us in any of the plans you can buy through the insurance exchanges.

  • If you are a New York State resident: Please ask your insurance if you need a one-time referral.
  • If you live outside of New York State: Please ask your insurance if you have in-network access to Memorial Sloan Kettering.
EmblemHealth (including GHI, HIP, ConnectiCare, and Vytra)

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with EmblemHealth’s PPO, EPO, POS, HMO plans. EmblemHealth includes GHI, HIP, Vytra, and ConnecticCare (in NYS Only). You must bring a referral from your Emblem primary care doctor to your first appointment. In-network participation exceptions include:

  • Emblem’s HIP Commercial Millennium, Select Care and Enhanced Care Prime networks is not in-network with Memorial Sloan Kettering.
  • Please call Emblem to confirm if your specific plan is in-network.

For information regarding Memorial Sloan Kettering’s participation with Emblem’s Medicare Advantage Plans, please refer to the Medicare & Medicaid page

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield (Wellpoint) of New York Indemnity, HMO, EPO, PPO, POS and Medicare Advantage plans, with the following exceptions:

  • Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield does not include us in any of the plans you can buy through the insurance exchanges.
  • Please call Empire BCBS to confirm if your specific plan is in-network with Memorial Sloan Kettering.
HealthFirst

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with HealthFirst’s commercial products; these commercial products are not purchased on the insurance exchanges.

HealthSmart

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with HealthSmart’s Accel, HSPC, and HPO networks.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey

For our NJ locations, Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with most Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey plans for individuals, families, and small businesses. Horizon members with Blue Card Access (there would be a suitcase logo on the front of the card) may have access to our NY locations.  Please call Horizon to confirm if your plan is in-network in NY. 

Humana

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Center of Excellence by Humana.

Interlink Health Services

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Center of Excellence by Interlink Health Services.

Lifetrac

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Center of Excellence by Lifetrac.

MagnaCare

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider for all MagnaCare health plans except those products you can buy through the insurance exchanges.

Medicare & Medicaid

For information about Medicare and Medicaid, please visit this page

Multiplan/Beech Street/PHCS

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with some Multiplan/Beech Street/PHCS plans. Contact your insurance carrier to find out if your plan provides in-network access to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Center of Excellence by Multiplan.

Multiple Insurance Plans

If you are covered by more than one insurance plan, you will want to determine your benefits from both plans. First, you need to determine which one is your primary insurance provider by contacting your employee benefits office or your insurance carriers. After you find out which is your primary insurance provider, you should then contact your insurance carrier to determine if you have access to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

MVP

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with some MVP plans. Contact your insurance carrier to find out if your plan provides in-network access to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

New York State Employee Health Insurance Plan (Empire Plan)

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider for New York State employees who have enrolled in UnitedHealthcare's Cancer Resource Services. If you have the Empire Plan, you should call Cancer Resources Services at 866-936-6002 to verify and enroll in this coverage.

Oscar

Memorial Sloan Kettering is in-network with Oscar’s Circle Plus Network, a part of its Small Group Broad line that is offered only to select small business groups. Oscar does not include Memorial Sloan Kettering as an in-network provider for any of its individual plans. Please confirm eligibility with your insurance carrier. 

Other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans

Most Blue Cross Blue Shield plans include Memorial Sloan Kettering as an in-network provider. Contact your insurance company to confirm if Memorial Sloan Kettering is in-network.

Other Coverage Options

We have agreements with several insurance companies that may provide additional coverage for cancer patients. These benefit programs include:

  • AXA Assistance USA
  • Beech Street
  • Integrated Health Plans
  • National Health Administrators
  • National Preferred Provider Network
  • UnitedHealthcare's Cancer Resource Services
  • United Resource Network
  • Veterans Choice Program
Oxford

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with Oxford’s Freedom and Liberty plans as well as the Metro Plan (which is only offered to small business groups and no longer offered as individual plans). Please confirm with your insurance if you need a one-time referral. Note: Oxford’s Medicare Managed Care plan — Secure Horizon — does not include Memorial Sloan Kettering as an in-network provider. Oxford does not include us in any of the plans you can buy through the insurance exchanges.

World Trade Center Health Program

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with the World Trade Center Health Program.

QualCare

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with QualCare's PPO and HMO/POS network.

Specialty Care Management

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Center of Excellence by Specialty Care Management.

TRICARE

Hospital and physician services may be covered by TRICARE. Please call your TRICARE plan to confirm coverage at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

UnitedHealthcare

Memorial Sloan Kettering is an in-network provider with UnitedHealthCare's HMO, POS, and PPO plans. Please confirm with your insurance if a one-time referral is needed.

UnitedHealthCare's Medicare Managed Care plan does not include Memorial Sloan Kettering as an in-network provider.

United does not include us in any of the plans you can buy through the insurance exchanges.

Memorial Sloan Kettering is a designated Center of Excellence by UnitedHealthcare.

Contact and Location

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Find a Convenient Location

Memorial Sloan Kettering has locations throughout New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester. These locations offer many services, including screening, chemotherapy, and medical testing.

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About Me

Education

MD, Columbia University; PhD, Columbia University

Residencies

Internal Medicine - Weill Cornell at New York Presbyterian

Fellowships

Medical Oncology - Memorial Sloan Kettering

Board Certifications

Internal Medicine; Medical Oncology

I am a board-certified medical oncologist specializing in the treatment of lung cancer and a physician-scientist specializing in computational biology and single-cell genomics, with a focus on small cell transformation in lung and prostate cancer.

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As a clinician, I work in the inpatient setting, where I treat patients who have been admitted to Memorial Hospital. In the hospital, I work closely with a dedicated group of doctors, including world-renowned lung cancer experts, nurses and nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and support staff to deliver the highest-quality care possible. In addition to medical management, I strive to communicate with my patients and their families to ease the burden of uncertainty. Whether you are a patient or a family member, any experience with cancer can be scary. So much of the fear associated with cancer is fear of the unknown, and I will take the time to discuss the rationale and expectations for any diagnostic tests or treatments so that we can banish this fear as much as possible.

As a physician-scientist and computational biologist conducting cancer research at Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI), I aim to gain a better understanding of lineage plasticity, a poorly understood mechanism of therapeutic resistance and metastasis in cancer. A key example of plasticity in cancer is when adenocarcinoma escapes pressure from targeted therapies by transforming into a more aggressive disease called small cell cancer. This phenomenon arises in many different cancer types, including lung, prostate, bladder, uterine, cervical, gastrointestinal tract, and head and neck, among others. I also strive to use single-cell technologies to understand how lineage plasticity in lung and prostate cancer affects tumor progression, and how the surrounding microenvironment can impact this process. The overarching goal of this research is to identify a new class of drugs that can reverse plasticity, thereby restoring the disease’s original sensitivity to targeted therapies.

I completed my undergraduate studies in biomedical computation at Stanford University, my MD/PhD at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, my residency in internal medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center at NewYork-Presbyterian, and, finally, my fellowship in oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. For my PhD work, I studied computational biology and developed new methods to model the topology of viral evolution and identify gene fusions in cancer. These methods supported the identification of a class of recurrent FGFR-TACC fusions in brain cancer; of note, this was the first time that this mutation was found in any cancer. Now, this mutation is an FDA-approved drug target in bladder and gallbladder cancer.

Awards and Honors

  • Clinical Investigator Award, K08CA259161, National Cancer Institute (2021-Current)
  • Young Investigator Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology & Conquer Cancer Foundation (2021-Current)
  • Lung Cancer Research Fellowship, American Association for Cancer Research (2021)
  • Harborside Endowed Merit Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology & Conquer Cancer Foundation (2021)
  • World Conference on Lung Cancer Early Career Award, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (2021)
  • Gerry Fellowship, Alan and Sandra Gerry Metastasis and Tumor Ecosystems Center (2020-2021)
  • Distinguished Young Investigator Award, EGFR Resisters (2020)
  • T32 Investigational Cancer Therapeutics Training Program Grant, Memorial Sloan Kettering (2018-2020)

Colleagues

Doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering work as teams, with specialists from all different areas. This allows us to consider all your needs together, and to give you the best possible care.

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Clinical Trials

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Find a Clinical Trial for You

Memorial Sloan Kettering's doctors and scientists are constantly developing new treatments for cancer. MSK is typically running hundreds of clinical trials at a given time.

You may be able to participate in a clinical trial even if you are new to MSK. Search our online directory to find trial information and see more about who can participate.

Search clinical trials

Research and Publications

Chan JM, Quintanal-Villalonga Á, Gao VR, Xie Y, Allaj V, Chaudhary O, Masilionis I, Egger J, Chow A, Walle T, Mattar M, Yarlagadda DVK, Wang JL, Uddin F, Offin M, Ciampricotti M, Qeriqi B, Bahr A, de Stanchina E, Bhanot UK, Lai WV, Bott MJ, Jones DR, Ruiz A, Baine MK, Li Y, Rekhtman N, Poirier JT, Nawy T, Sen T, Mazutis L, Hollmann TJ, Pe’er D, Rudin CM. Signatures of plasticity, metastasis, and immunosuppression in an atlas of human small cell lung cancer. Cancer Cell. 2021 Nov 8;39(11):1479-1496.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.09.008. Epub 2021 Oct 14. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8628860.

Offin M, Chan JM, Tenet M, Rizvi HA, Shen R, Riely GJ, Rekhtman N, Daneshbod Y, Quintanal-Villalonga A, Penson A, Hellmann MD, Arcila ME, Ladanyi M, Pe’er D, Kris MG, Rudin CM, Yu HA. Concurrent RB1 and TP53 Alterations Define a Subset of EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancers at risk for Histologic Transformation and Inferior Clinical Outcomes. J Thorac Oncol. 2019 Oct;14(10):1784-1793. doi: 10.1016/j.jtho.2019.06.002. Epub 2019 Jun 19. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6764905.

Chan JM, Carlsson G, Rabadan R. Topology of viral evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Nov 12;110(46):18566-71. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1313480110. Epub 2013 Oct 29. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3831954.

Singh D, Chan JM, Zoppoli P, Niola F, Sullivan R, Castano A, Liu EM, Reichel J, Porrati P, Pellegatta S, Qiu K, Gao Z, Ceccarelli M, Riccardi R, Brat DJ, Guha A, Aldape K, Golfinos JG, Zagzag D, Mikkelsen T, Finocchiaro G, Lasorella A, Rabadan R, Iavarone A. Transforming fusions of FGFR and TACC genes in human glioblastoma. Science. 2012 Sep 7;337(6099):1231-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1220834. Epub 2012 Jul 26. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3677224.

Publications on PubMed

Visit PubMed for a full listing of Dr. Chan’s journal articles. Pubmed is an online index of research papers and other articles from the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

See all on PubMed