The 20 Best Osteosarcoma Doctors in Maryland, US

Paul Meltzer is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Meltzer is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Osteosarcoma, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Ewing Sarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma, and Pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Dr. Meyer will serve as the lead medical oncologist for adult sarcoma patients, and will focus on building the Adult Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Oncology Program. In collaboration with pediatric oncologist David Loeb, M.D., Ph.D., and orthopaedic surgeon Kristy Weber, M.D., Meyer will bring novel therapies to the clinic for sarcoma patients. Meyer received his bachelors and masters degrees in cell and molecular biology from Stanford University. From there, he joined the Medical Scientist Training Program at Baylor College of Medicine and earned his medical degree followed by a doctorate in immunology. Meyer completed his residency at the University of Maryland and served as chief resident in medicine from 2004-2005. Afterward, he joined our fellowship program in medical oncology and has been working in the laboratory of Jonathan Powell, M.D., Ph.D., on projects relating to the characterization of molecular regulatory pathways involved in T-cell activation and energy. As a third-year fellow, Meyer served as the chief fellow for our Training Programs in Hematology and Medical Oncology and he received a Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2010. Dr. Meyer is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Fibrosarcoma, Osteosarcoma, and Salpingo-Oophorectomy.

Adam Levin, MD, joined the Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery as an assistant professor in orthopaedic oncology. Dr. Levin comes to Johns Hopkins after working as an orthopaedic oncologist at the North Shore/LIJ Health System in New York. He completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and a fellowship in orthopaedic oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Levin offers care and consultations for adults and children with bone and soft tissue tumors of the pelvis and extremities. He has extensive experience in performing limb-sparing and complex extremity reconstruction surgeries. Dr. Levin has a special interest in surgical palliation and biologic reconstruction. Dr. Levin is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society. Dr. Levin is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Ollier Disease, Hip Replacement, and Osteotomy.

Brock Lindsey, M.D., is an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in orthopaedic oncology. He treats children and adults with all types of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. Dr. Lindsey has expertise in nanoparticle delivery of immunotherapy, immunodiagnostics as a novel treatment for osteosarcoma, as well as complex reconstruction after amputation, including osseointegration. Dr. Lindsey earned his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati. He then completed an orthopaedic surgery residency at West Virginia University’s (WVU) J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, becoming the department’s first to complete a research fellowship during residency. Dr. Lindsey also pursued a fellowship in musculoskeletal oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and UPMC Children’s Hospital before returning to WVU Medicine as an attending physician. During his 12 years at WVU Medicine, Dr. Lindsey created programs in musculoskeletal oncology and adult reconstruction as well as a multidisciplinary amputation clinic. He also led a musculoskeletal research laboratory into the national rankings for federal funding for orthopaedic surgery departments. His research focuses on improving treatment strategies for metastatic osteosarcoma and exploring human/machine interfaces for amputees. His work has been published in local, national and international basic science and clinical research journals. Dr. Lindsey has experience mentoring and training students at all levels from undergraduate and graduate students to postdoctoral positions. He won Press Ganey’s “Top Provider” award every year between 2013 and 2018. He also founded ICaPath, a biotech startup derived from his laboratory research that is currently working toward a first in-human clinical trial. Videos Brock Lindsey, M.D.Orthopaedic Oncologist OsseointegrationQ&A with Dr. Brock Lindsey. Dr. Lindsey is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Bone Tumor, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Leg or Foot Amputation, and Hip Replacement.

As instructor of oncology and pediatrics, Llosa’s research focus is the immunotherapy of sarcomas. My research focuses on understanding how the immune system interacts with cancer cells from sarcoma tumors. Sarcoma is a type of cancer that can occur in various locations in the body. Sarcoma is the general term for a broad group of cancers that includes tumors that form in the bones and in the soft (also called connective) tissues. Sarcomas affect people of all ages and some, such as Rhabdomyosarcoma, Neuroblastoma, Ewings sarcoma and Osteosarcoma, are more common in children and young adults. Treatments for sarcoma vary depending on tumor type, location and other factors. I concentrate in the immunotherapy of sarcomas. Immunotherapy (also called biologic therapy or biotherapy) is a type of cancer treatment designed to boost the body's natural defenses to fight the cancer. It uses materials either made by the body or in a laboratory to improve, target, or restore immune system function. Immunotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, stopping cancer from spreading to other parts of the body, or helping the immune system increase its effectiveness at eliminating cancer cells. There are several types of immunotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies, non-specific immunotherapies, and cancer vaccines. My specific area of interest is the use of drugs that target immune system checkpoints. The immune system has checkpoints to keep itself from attacking other normal cells in the body. Cancer cells sometimes take advantage of these checkpoints to avoid being attacked by the immune system. CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 are checkpoint molecules found on immune system cells (T cells) that can be blocked with drugs leading to a general raise in the immune system of the patients which helps it attack cancer cells. These types of drugs are currently being given to patients with melanoma (skin cancer), lung cancer and kidney cancer with great success and they have been found to shrink advanced tumors in many people. The best part of the treatment is that many of these tumor responses have been long-lasting so far, and the side effects are generally less serious than when using chemotherapy. Larger clinical trials are now studying both drugs, both alone and/or in combination with other treatments. My task is and will continue to be using the same type of approach for attacking sarcomas and hopefully obtained the very promising results and long lasting responses observed with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in other types of cancer. Dr. Llosa is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor, Rhabdomyosarcoma, and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Dr. Christine Pratilas is a pediatric medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Oncology, Pediatrics & Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Hopkins pediatric sarcoma team in 2014. Dr. Pratilas received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Drew University in New Jersey and her medical degree from UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now Rutgers University), where she also completed her internship and residency from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005 she was a fellow in hematology and oncology in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) Department of Pediatrics, and in the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Neal Rosen’s Molecular Oncogenesis Laboratory at MSKCC. From 2006 to 2014 she was attending in Pediatric Oncology at MSKCC, specializing in developmental therapeutics & sarcoma. She has been the director of the pediatric sarcoma program at Hopkins since 2018. Dr. Pratilas focuses her research on cancer-associated pathways and signal transduction, which involves figuring out how a cell’s internal molecular pathways work, and how those pathways can be molecularly controlled. This knowledge is the basis for developing promising new molecularly targeted cancer therapies, which is the focus of Dr. Pratilas’s research. Among her important scientific contributions is advancing our understanding of how certain proteins that can be mutated in cancer, known as RAF kinases (specifically BRAF), affect a cancer cell’s behavior. The research in Dr. Pratilas' laboratory is focused on RAS signal transduction pathways, concentrating on pediatric sarcomas such as rhabdomyosarcoma and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, in order to develop novel therapeutics for children with these tumors. Dr. Pratilas is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor, Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), Neurofibromatosis, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, and Osteotomy.

Albert Aboulafia is an Orthopedics provider in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Aboulafia is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Bone Tumor, Myxoid Liposarcoma, Fibrosarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma Embryonal, and Hip Replacement.

Sharon Savage is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Savage is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Dyskeratosis Congenita, Aplastic Anemia, Aase Syndrome, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), and Bone Marrow Transplant.

Javed Khan is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Khan is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Rhabdomyosarcoma, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Neuroblastoma, Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered Rosettes, and Angioplasty.

Christine Heske is a Hematologist and an Oncologist in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Heske is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing Sarcoma, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Osteosarcoma, and Tissue Biopsy.

Dr. Cohen is Director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology and Clinical Director of the Division of Pediatric Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. He received his undergraduate degree at Brown University and earned his MD at the Upstate Medical University, in Syracuse, NY. He did his general Pediatric Residency and Chief Residency at the University of Colorado and completed his Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins. He has served on the faculty since 1994. His research centers on clinical trials of novel therapeutics for children with brain tumors. Dr. Cohen is co-chair of the High-Grade Glioma committee for the Children's Oncology Group and in that capacity has a particular research interest in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of infiltrating gliomas. He serves on the scientific advisory board for a number of organizations including St. Baldricks and the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation. He is on the editorial board for PDQ with responsibility for authorship of the pediatric CNS brain tumor summaries. The Pediatric Neuro-Oncology program conducts a broad range of research centered primarily around the development and testing of novel therapeutics for children with brain tumors. The multidisciplinary nature of this work translates into continual collaboration with specialists in pediatric neurosurgery, radiation oncology, neuropathology, neuroradiology, neurology, neuro-ophthalmology, neuropsychology, and other related disciplines. Dr. Cohen is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Glioma, Medulloblastoma, Brain Stem Cancer, Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered Rosettes, and Bone Marrow Aspiration.

Sahaja Acharya is the Director of Pediatric Radiation Oncology within the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences. She specializes in pediatric brain tumors, pediatric sarcomas, and adult sarcomas. She is also the Associate Director for the Radiation Oncology Residency Program. She leads the Pediatric Radiation Oncology program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and treats patients at both Johns Hopkins Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital. She has extensive expertise in proton therapy, SBRT, pediatric malignancies, and adult sarcoma. She is the Principal Investigator on external grants from ASCO Conquer Cancer, the Department of Defense, and the Carson Leslie Foundation. She is also the Principal Investigator of phase II pediatric brain tumor clinical trials. She has been invited to participate in multiple national and international guideline committees and regularly lectures on pediatric malignancies and proton therapy. Dr. Acharya received her Bachelor's in Chemistry and Political Science from Stanford University and her medical degree from Saint Louis University. She completed radiation oncology residency at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Acharya is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Brain Tumor, Glioma, Gliomatosis Cerebri, and Posterior Fossa Tumor.

Dr. William H. Sharfman is an associate professor of oncology and dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His areas of clinical expertise include cutaneous oncology, dermatology and immunotherapy. He helped create the well-established Melanoma Program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in 1994. Dr. Sharfman serves as the director of cutaneous oncology and clinical co-director for oncology at the Johns Hopkins Melanoma Program. He earned his M.D. from the University of Toledo College of Medicine. He completed his residency at Cleveland Clinic and performed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Sharfman's research interests include novel therapies for high risk and advanced melanoma patients. Dr. Sharfman is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Melanoma, Merkel Cell Carcinoma, Eccrine Porocarcinoma, and Pancreatic Cancer.

Dr. Kathryn Lemberg is an Assistant Professor of Oncology and Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research, conducted with Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery, focuses on tumor metabolism and the development of new metabolic inhibitors to treat cancer. She has investigated novel glutamine antagonists in preclinical models of RAS-driven solid tumors. She is also interested in the effects of tumor metabolism on patient growth and development. Dr. Lemberg completed pediatrics residency training at Johns Hopkins and pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship training in the joint Johns Hopkins/National Cancer Institute program. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Medical Scientist Training Program at Columbia University in New York, where her graduate research focused on ferroptosis, a novel oxidative cell death in cancer models. Dr. Lemberg sees pediatric and young adult sarcoma patients as part of the sarcoma team and has additional clinical focus on neurofibromatosis type I related solid tumors. Dr. Lemberg is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor, Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), Neurofibromatosis, and Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Young Kwok is a Radiation Oncologist in Columbia, Maryland. Dr. Kwok is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Prostate Cancer, Familial Prostate Cancer, Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC), Squamous Cell Lung Carcinoma, and Prostatectomy.

William Houck is an Oncologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Houck is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Paget Disease of the Breast, Lung Cancer, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), and Chronic B-Cell Leukemia (CBCL).

Vishal Hegde, M.D., is an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement surgery, serving patients in the Baltimore area. His expertise is in minimally invasive hip and knee surgery, including anterior total hip replacement, partial and total knee replacement, complex hip and knee replacement and revision surgery after a failed previous joint replacement. Dr. Hegde is committed to providing the best possible care for his patients. He strives to create a personalized approach to each patient. He does this through customized treatment plans tailored to each patient’s unique lifestyle as well as through the application of new technologies such as precision computer navigation. Dr. Hegde is an assistant professor in the Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He graduated cum laude from Columbia University and received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Hegde did his orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of California Los Angeles. He then completed an advanced clinical fellowship in adult reconstructive surgery at Colorado Joint Replacement in Denver, Colorado. He is a candidate member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. Dr. Hegde is committed to moving the field of joint replacement forward and has published many research articles and orthopaedic surgery textbook chapters. His research interests include developing innovative new techniques and technologies to prevent implant infection and improve outcomes after hip and knee replacement surgery. He has won numerous awards for his research from organizations including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Musculoskeletal Infection Society and the Western Orthopaedic Association. Dr. Hegde is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Osteoarthritis, Chondroblastoma, Acute Pain, Knee Replacement, and Hip Replacement.

Blanche Mavromatis, MD, specializes in hematology oncology and is board certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Mavromatis completed her fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital, residency at Georgetown University Medical Center and medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University Medical College. Dr. Mavromatis is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Breast Cancer, Paget Disease of the Breast, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), and Richter Syndrome.

Dr. Civelek is a professor in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Department of Radiology and Radiological Science. He serves as the director of the Nuclear Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Civelek earned his medical degree at Istanbul University, Istanbul School of Medicine, and completed his residency at Hacettepe University Medical Center, Ankara. He received a scholarship from the International Atomic Energy Agency when he completed his nuclear medicine residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins in the Division of Nuclear Medicine. After his period as a postdoctoral fellow, he joined Johns Hopkins Medicine as full-time faculty until 2003. In his early years at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Civelek assisted the clinical and research programs. He later served as director of nuclear cardiology and clinical director, the director of Nuclear Medicine Residency Program, as well as medical director of the Nuclear Medicine Technologist Program. Prior to his return to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Civelek was a professor and director of nuclear medicine and PET at the University of Louisville and a professor and director of nuclear medicine at the Saint Louis University Hospital. Dr. Civelek spent two years in the body MRI and MRI-PET section, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, at National Institutes of Health Clinical Center before serving as the deputy chief in their nuclear medicine section. He is a fellow of the American College of Nuclear Medicine and The American College of Angiology, and is a fellow and founding member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. Dr. Civelek has trained numerous American and international physicians in nuclear medicine, including nuclear cardiology and nuclear oncology. He has a worldwide reputation in nuclear medicine and lectures at medical centers in the U.S. and internationally on nuclear medicine, including nuclear cardiology and nuclear oncology/PET-CT and PET-MRI. Dr. Civelek is committed to the continued progress of nuclear medicine, cardiology and oncology and the development of new tumor-targeting radiopharmaceuticals for imaging and therapy. He supports high quality clinical trials and patient care and safety. To date, Dr. Civelek has published more than 210 peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts, and he has participated in and fostered many nuclear oncology research projects. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals. He is a reviewer for multiple scientific journals, including the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, American Journal of Radiology, and Journal of Urology. Dr. Civelek is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. His top areas of expertise are Neuroendocrine Tumor, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, and Familial Prostate Cancer.

Dr. Rima Jean Couzi is a cancer specialist in Towson, Maryland, caring for patients with breast cancer. Dr. Couzi earned her medical degree at the National University of Ireland. She completed residencies at St. Laurence's Hospital/Beaumont Hospitals and Galway Regional in Dublin, as well as Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore. She performed a fellowship in medical oncology at St. Vincent's Hospital and St. James's Hospital in Dublin, and an additional fellowship in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore. She also earned a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Couzi joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2004. Dr. Couzi is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. Selected Publications Antonarakis ES, Fradin JM, Petronis JD, Couzi RJ. “Not What It Seems.” Am J Med. 2007;120:408-411 Holdhoff M, Wung PK, Petronis J, Couzi R. “Persistent PET-positive liver lesions after successful chemotherapy in a patient with mediastinal seminoma.” J. Clin Oncol. 2007;25:2482-4. Li S, Couzi RJ, Thomas GH, Friedman AD, Borowitz MJ. “A novel variant three-way translocation of inversion 16 in a case of AML-M4eo following low dose methotrexate therapy.” Cancer Genet Cytogenet. 2001; 125:74-7. Schultz MJ, Tabb RD, Eagan JW, Citron JR, Couzi RJ. “Treating a male breast cancer patient with moderately differentiated, infiltrating ductal cancer of the breast.” Journal of Multidisciplinary Cancer Care. 2009 September – October. Siegelbaum MH, Citron JR, Eagan JW, Couzi RJ. “Treating a patient with Unfavorable-risk prostate cancer.” Journal of Multidisciplinary Cancer Care. 2009; July – August. Dr. Couzi is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Osteosarcoma. Her top areas of expertise are Breast Cancer, Paget Disease of the Breast, Angiosarcoma, and Inflammatory Breast Cancer.