About James Cusack, MD
James Cusack, MD, FACS, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Emory University Medical School who trained in surgery at Tufts-New England Medical Center. He completed a Research Fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Surgical Oncology Fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2000 he joined the staff at Massachusetts General, the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and the consulting staff at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. At Massachusetts General, he is Director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancy (HIPEC) Program and Surgical Oncology Laboratories. He served on the Executive Council of the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and was Chair of the SSO Scientific Program Committee. He also served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Symposium Program Committee.
Among Dr. Cusack's awards for his patient care are Boston Super Doctors, Boston Top Doctors, The MGH One Hundred, America's Top Surgeons, America's Top Doctors for Cancer, and Patients' Choice Award.
The Cusack Laboratory has made landmark contributions to the understanding of molecular mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance. Since 1995 Dr. Cusack's research has been funded by NIH, American Cancer Society, biotech, and his patients. Ongoing research topics are biomarkers of resistance and new targets for therapeutic intervention in colorectal and appendiceal cancer, melanoma, and Merkel Cell carcinoma. His bibliography lists over 70 publications, and he serves on numerous editorial boards.
Dr. Cusack is the Director of the MGH Global Surgery Initiative and Co-Chair of the MGH Cancer Center Global Health Committee. He leads the MGH Cancer Care Initiative in Mbarara, Uganda, and is committed to improving access to affordable surgical treatment and multidisciplinary cancer care in resource-limited settings, especially the East African Community.
Clinical Interests:
- Colon cancer
- Global surgery
- Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)
- Laparoscopic / Minimally Invasive Surgery
- Liver metastases
- Melanoma
- Merkel cell carcinoma
- Molecular targeted therapies
- Peritoneal carcinomatosis
- Rectal cancer
Treats:
- Adult
Languages:
- German
Locations
Mass General Surgery: Surgical Oncology
55 Fruit St.
Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care
7th Floor
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-724-4093
Medical Education
- MD, Emory University
- Residency, Tufts Medical Center
- Fellowship, University of Texas - MD Anderson Cancer Center
American Board Certifications
- Surgery, American Board of Surgery
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna Health Inc.
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Blue Care 65
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Indemnity
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Managed Care
- Blue Cross Blue Shield - Partners Plus
- BMC HealthNet Mass Health MCO/ACO
- Centene/Celticare
- Cigna (PAL #'s)
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Fallon Community HealthCare
- Great-West Healthcare (formally One Health Plan)
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - ACD
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan - PBO
- Health Care Value Management (HCVM)
- Humana/Choice Care PPO
- Maine Community Health Options (MCHO)
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan - ACD
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan - PBO
- MassHealth
- Medicare
- Medicare - ACD
- Medicare ACO - ACD
- Medicare ACO - PBO
- OSW - Connecticut
- OSW - Maine
- OSW - New Hampshire
- OSW - Rhode Island
- OSW - Vermont
- Private Health Care Systems (PHCS)
- Railroad Medicare
- Railroad Medicare - ACD
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- Unicare
- United Healthcare (non-HMO) - ACD
- United Healthcare (non-HMO) - PBO
- Well Sense Pediatrics
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
The Cusack Laboratory has made landmark contributions to the field of molecular therapeutics, advancing the understanding of chemotherapy resistance within cancer cells. Dr. Cusack is Director of the Surgical Oncology Laboratories at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His two most cited papers in Nature Medicine 1999 and Cancer Research 2001 describe the inhibition of the transcription factor NF-kappaB to overcome inducible chemotherapy resistance. Dr. Cusack is co-inventor of the patent that describes this therapeutic strategy, now licensed to two pharmaceutical companies for drug development. He recently defined the role of HB-EGF, a downstream target of NF-kappaB in cancer resistance. Based on this work, he developed a new cancer treatment with scientists in Japan. Ongoing areas of investigation include the development of targeted therapeutic approaches to overcome resistance mechanisms in melanoma, rectal cancer, and Merkel Cell carcinoma. His bibliography lists over 70 publications, and he continues to serve on numerous editorial boards. Dr. Cusack's laboratory has been funded since 1995 by the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, biotech collaborators, and his patients.
If you would like to make a contribution to the Cusack Laboratory, please call 617-726-1691.
Publications
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Select Publications:
- Chan CHF, Cusack, JC, Ryan DP. A critical look at local-regional management of peritoneal metastasis. Hem Onc Clinics N Am 2015 Feb; 29 (1):153-58.
- Cercek A, MD, Cusack JC, Ryan DP. Treatment of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis of Colorectal Origin. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2015; 35:e208-11.
- Chao TE, Riesel J, Anderson G, Mullen JT, Doyle J, Briggs S, Lillemoe KD, Goldstein C, Kitya D, Cusack JC. Building a Global Surgery Initiative Through Evaluation, Collaboration, and Training: The Massachusetts General Hospital Experience. J Surg Educ. 2015 Jul-Aug; 72(4):e21-8.
- Santamaria-Barria J, Boland G, Yeap BY, Nardi V, Dias-Santagata D, Cusack JC. Merkel Cell Carcinoma: 30-year experience from a single institution. Ann Surg Onc 2013;20(4):1365-73..
- Chan CH, Liesenfeld LF, Ferreiro-Neira I, Cusack JC Jr. Preclinical evaluation of Cathepsin-based fluorescent imaging system for cytoreductive surgery. Ann Surg Oncol. 2017 Apr;24(4):931-938.
- Yozu M, Johncilla M, Srivastava A, Ryan DP, Cusack JC, Doyle L, Setia N, Yang M, Lauwers G, Odze R, Misdraji J. Histologic and Outcome Study Supports Reclassifying Appendiceal Goblet Cell Carcinoids as Goblet Cell Adenocarcinomas, and Grading and Staging Similar to Colonic Adenocarcinomas. Am J Surg Pathol. 2018 Jul; 42(7): 898-910.
- Chawla A, Zhu C, Backer G, O'Gara J, Fong Z, Deng H, Bao X, Cusack J. Perioperative management of patients undergoing CRS and HIPEC. Clinics in Surgery. March 2020; 5: article 2788 pp1-7.
- Chicago Consensus Working Group. The Chicago Consensus Guidelines for Peritoneal Surface Malignancies: Introduction. Ann Surg Oncol. 2020 Jun; 27(6)1737-40.