Balazs Halmos, MD, MS was recruited in May 2015 to serve as Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program and Director of the Section of Thoracic Medical Oncology for Montefiore Health Systems. Dr. Halmos has also been appointed as the first Director of Clinical Cancer Genetics and Professor of Clinical Medicine at Einstein.
Dr. Halmos is an authority in the management of patients with malignancies of the thoracic cavity such as lung cancer, gastroesophageal cancer and thymoma. His research interests are focused on studies of targeted agents for the treatment of thoracic malignancies as well as translational studies aimed at different aspects of lung cancer biology such as oncogenic tyrosine kinase targeting, resistance to chemotherapy, radiation and targeted therapeutics. He will oversee the thoracic clinical trials program and spearhead the effort to develop guidelines for genetic testing for cancer patients of different anatomic sites to implement a personalized cancer medicine approach.
Dr. Halmos joined Montefiore and Einstein from Columbia University Medical Center, where he was Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology since 2009, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Chairman of the Cancer IRB. He completed a medical degree summa cum laude from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary, an internal medicine residency at St.Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital/Columbia University, and a hematology/oncology fellowship program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, where he also obtained a master of science in clinical sciences from Harvard Medical School. Since completion of his fellowship, he has been on the faculties at Harvard, Case Western Reserve University, and Columbia.
Dr. Halmos is the recipient of multiple awards from organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, and American Cancer Society and serves as a permanent review board member for the American Cancer Society. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology.