Biography: Marshall R. Posner, MD

Dr. Marshall Posner is the Medical Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the first multi-disciplinary head and neck cancer programs established in this country. Dr. Posner graduated in 1971 from Yale University and received his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1975. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Boston City Hospital in 1978 and became a fellow in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He completed his fellowship in 1981 and became an Instructor in Medicine. He was a member of the multi-disciplinary head and neck clinic at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 1979-1983 and a member of the Division of Tumor Immunology.

In 1983 Dr. Posner joined the Roger Williams Cancer Center and the Brown University Medical School as an Assistant Professor where helped develop a Phase II clinical trials program and established the Human Monoclonal Antibody Laboratory. In 1991 Dr. Posner joined the New England Deaconess Hospital and in 1994 was appointed the Medical Director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at DFCI. He became an associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1994. Dr. Posner has published over 140 peer reviewed basic laboratory and clinical studies as well as numerous reviews and abstracts in clinical research and basic laboratory studies.

The Head and Neck Oncology Program is one component of the Harvard Head and Neck Oncology Program, a Harvard-wide effort in head and neck cancer, and provides the clinical and research center for the treatment and study of head and neck cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Harvard Medical School, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, The Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

The Head and Neck Oncology Program provides excellent multi-disciplinary care for the patients as its first order of business, and coordinates an extensive clinical and laboratory based research effort. Over 500 new cases of head and neck cancer are seen each year and more then 100 patients participate in active clinical trials and many more contribute blood and tissue samples for the molecular epidemiology program and tissue bank.