Flatiron Health Announces Three Additions to Research Oncology Team

NEW YORK, NY

Flatiron Health today announced that Dr. Neal Meropol will soon join the company as Vice President of Research Oncology, along with Drs. Kenneth Carson and Rebecca Miksad as Senior Medical Directors. At Flatiron, the Research Oncology team oversees day-to-day research planning and execution, which includes input into how data sets are created and used to answer clinically important questions in the field of oncology.

The team focuses on a range of methodological areas (e.g., clinical trials, real-world evidence, outcomes research) and topic areas (e.g., precision medicine), as well as a variety of projects that span both.

“Drs. Meropol, Carson and Miksad cumulatively bring over 60 years of clinical experience to Flatiron, and we are so proud that they are joining us in our mission to accelerate cancer research in novel ways,” said Amy Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical and Chief Scientific Officer, Flatiron Health. “Their expertise will be incredibly valuable as we continue to demonstrate the value of real-world evidence in cancer research.”

Dr. Neal Meropol, Vice President, Research Oncology

Dr. Neal J. Meropol is a clinical researcher who joins Flatiron Health on July 1 as vice president of research oncology, where he will focus on real-world evidence generation and academic partnerships. He is nationally recognized for his research contributions in gastrointestinal malignancies and health services research, including evaluation of new agents, predictors of response and outcome, and assessment of the economic impact of care. Dr. Meropol has also conducted in-depth research on the unique decision-making calculus of cancer patients, and the drivers and barriers to clinical trial participation.

Dr. Meropol serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology as well as the co-chair of the Gastrointestinal Steering Committee at the National Cancer Institute. Prior to joining Flatiron, Dr. Meropol served as professor and chief of the division of hematology and oncology, at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University. He also served as associate director for Clinical Research at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and associate director for Clinical Programs and Clinical Research at the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center. In addition to publication of more than 250 manuscripts, he has been recognized by Castle Connolly and Cleveland Magazine as a “Top Doctor.”

Dr. Meropol received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in philosophy, and his M.D. from Vanderbilt University. He was a resident in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University, and completed hematology and oncology fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, where he subsequently undertook a sabbatical at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

Dr. Kenneth Carson, Senior Medical Director

Dr. Kenneth Carson is a board-certified practicing hematologist and medical oncologist who currently serves as senior medical director at Flatiron Health, where he focuses on real-world evidence generation. Over the course of his career, Dr. Carson’s research has focused on the use of large electronic databases to evaluate health care disparities and oncology drug safety. His research has been published in leading oncology journals, including Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Carson also continues to see patients part time, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies like lymphoma and leukemia. He joined Washington University School of Medicine’s faculty in 2008 and later served as chief of hematology and oncology at the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Dr. Carson received his M.D. from the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, graduating with highest distinction. This was followed by residency training in internal medicine at Duke University, and research and clinical fellowships at Northwestern University. Dr. Carson also received a Ph.D. (with an emphasis in health policy) from the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

Dr. Rebecca Miksad, Senior Medical Director

Dr. Rebecca Miksad is an oncologist and researcher who joins Flatiron Health as senior medical director where she will focus on real-world evidence generation. Dr. Miksad’s academic research has focused on improving cancer treatment decision-making through better characterization of patient outcomes, increasing relevance of clinical trial endpoints and evaluating economic implications of cancer therapy. A nationally recognized clinician and health services researcher, Dr. Miksad publishes in leading medical journals and serves on national clinical and research committees.

Prior to joining Flatiron Health, Dr. Miksad was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, a senior scientist at the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the director of gastrointestinal oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

Dr. Miksad earned a B.A. cum laude in economics from Harvard University and an M.D. with honors in research from Cornell University. She completed her internal medicine residency training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at BIDMC. With a focus on translating between clinical trial and outcomes research, Dr. Miksad earned a M.M.S. from Harvard Medical School and an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health in Clinical Effectiveness. She also completed the NCI-funded post-doctoral fellowship in the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Program in Cancer Outcomes Research Training (PCORT).