Deborah Axelrod, M.D., is director of Clinical Breast Programs and Services and medical director of Community Cancer Education and Outreach at NYU Clinical Cancer Center in New York City, and a board-certified surgeon who specializes in breast diseases and breast cancer. She is the Kanas Family Foundation Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology at New York University School of Medicine.
A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Axelrod completed a surgical oncology research fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She is widely published in her field and has been in practice since 1988.
Dr. Axelrod is a prominent speaker throughout the country, presenting to both lay and professional audiences information on survivorship and new developments in risk-reduction measures, detection, and treatment of breast cancer. She is on the editorial board of Cancer.Net, as part of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Under the leadership of Dr. Axelrod, monthly programs for the community (Insights In Context™) are offered throughout the year, emphasizing diagnosis, treatment, and risk reduction of cancer in women and men. Prior to joining the faculty at NYU, Dr. Axelrod was chief of the Comprehensive Breast Center at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York City (1999–2004). She initiated the Community Lecture Series program, which is successfully into its eleventh year offering lectures and resources to the community. From 1988 to 1999, Dr. Axelrod was physician-in-charge of the Appel-Venet Comprehensive Breast Service at Beth Israel Hospital and Medical Center in New York City.
Dr. Axelrod received a Synergy grant from the Department of Defense (as co-investigator) looking at innovative ways to reduce breast cancer in women who have been diagnosed with high-risk lesions in the breast, and is a co-investigator on a current DOD expansion grant looking at the effects of SOM230 in DCIS lesions. In 2009, Dr. Axelrod received her second two-year Avon grant (as co-investigator) to study behavioral attitudes toward lymphedema and using infrared perometry to evaluate arm changes both preoperatively and postoperatively and up to a year out of surgery. Dr. Axelrod was also the recipient of a 2001 CRAFT grant awarded by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to screen and recruit Chinese women at risk for breast cancer into the STAR trial (study of tamoxifen and raloxifene).
Always at the forefront of patient advocacy, Dr. Axelrod is active nationally and in the community, dedicated to educating the public about breast cancer and the need to take an active role in one’s own health care.
Dr. Axelrod’s work has been published in numerous prominent peer-reviewed scientific journals. She also coauthored the book Bosom Buddies: Lessons and Laughter About Breast Health and Cancer with Rosie O’Donnell and Tracy Chuterian-Semler, which uses humor to help cope with breast cancer. All proceeds for the book were donated to various nonprofit breast cancer organizations to help fund ongoing outreach, support, education, and research programs.
Dr. Axelrod has been consecutively named to the Best Doctors issue, New York magazine (1998–2012), as well as the Castle Connolly Guide to Best Doctors since 1998. In 2011, Dr. Axelrod was honored as a Woman of Action by the Israel Cancer Research Fund, and in 2010 she received the American Cancer Society’s Mother of the Year Award. In 2008, Dr. Axelrod received the Exploring Women of Achievement Award for her mentorship of high school students, and in 2007 she was honored at SHARE’s Second Helping of Life event.
Deborah Axelrod lives in Summit, New Jersey, with her husband, Dr. Noel Raskin. She has two grown sons, Max and Ben. Deborah enjoys weightlifting, cross-country skiing and hiking, and follows the advice she gives her patients by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.