Michael Benjamin Atkins MD

Michael B. Atkins, MD, was recently appointed Deputy Director of the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC, and Professor of Oncology and Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Prior to his move to Georgetown, Dr. Atkins was Deputy Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office, Director of the Cutaneous Oncology Program, and Director of the Biologic Therapy Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). In addition, he was the leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. He served as Director of the DF/HCC Kidney Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant and co-principal investigator of the DF/HCC Skin Cancer SPORE since their inceptions in 2003 and 2001, respectively.

Dr. Atkins completed his medical education at Tufts University School of Medicine and postgraduate training at the Cancer Center at Tufts New England Medical Center Hospital. There he held several academic and hospital appointments, before joining the staff at BIDMC in 1997.

Dr. Atkins’ major research interests are cancer immunotherapy, treatment of melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, predictive markers for response to biologic therapy, and antiangiogenic and targeted therapies. His research work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, various foundations, and several pharmaceutical companies.