Dr. Arnold Baskies was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and is a graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine and received his surgical residency training at Boston Medical Center.

 

His fellowship in cancer surgery and tumor immunology occurred at the National Cancer Institute, the nation’s foremost cancer research and treatment facility. Dr. Baskies participated in the world’s first clinical trial that showed a positive effect for immune therapy, pioneered the first immunotherapy treatments for patients with brain malignancy, and trained under 2 of the foremost leaders in cancer surgery, Dr. Steven Rosenberg, the Chief of Surgery at the NCI, and Dr. Murray Brennan, the former chief of surgery at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

 

He is the recipient of major awards in cancer research from the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Radium Society, the Society of Head and Neck Surgeons and the American Cancer Society. He currently holds major state and national leadership roles in cancer prevention and treatment. He has served as the Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey, as well as sitting on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, and was elected President of the American Cancer Society for New York and New Jersey, and was instrumental in establishing the Hope Lodge in Manhattan. He has been appointed by 6 separate governors of New Jersey to serve asChairman of the New Jersey Governor’s Task Force on Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Treatment, which createdand oversees the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program for the state of New Jersey. In addition, he chairs the Advocacy Committee, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons, the primary accrediting body for all cancer treatment centers in the United States. He also served on the National Assembly of the American Cancer Society, the society’s original governing body. In addition, he received the Silver Chalice Award for his role in providing leadership in cancer prevention and is a recipient of the St. George Medal from the American Cancer Society, the highest award given by the ACS for advocacy in the ACS’s mission to eradicate cancer.