Dr. Pond R. Kelemen

Pond Remsen Kelemen, MD, is a surgical oncologist focused on breast surgery with over two decades of experience. He also offers comprehensive surgical treatment of skin cancer, with a focus on Melanoma.

Dr. Kelemen was interested in medicine from a young age, volunteering at his local hospital and working as an orderly throughout high school and college. He went on to complete an anatomic pathology residency at University of Illinois at Chicago, a general surgery residency at University of Chicago Hospitals, and a surgical oncology fellowship at The John Wayne Cancer Institute in California. His career experience includes over 20 years as a cancer surgeon who now focuses his practice and research on breast health, high risk screening and management of breast cancers, melanoma and other skin cancers.

Dr. Kelemen joined Northwell Health Physician Partners Breast Care Center at Northern Westchester Hospital and Physician Partners Breast Surgery at Phelps in 2021. He works as part of a highly skilled, interdisciplinary team, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and genetic specialists to develop individualized treatment plans. Patients can promptly receive imaging, biopsy, consultations and treatment all without leaving their community. When it comes to his patients, Dr. Kelemen prides himself on his communication skills and even taught himself to speak Spanish to better connect with more patients.

Passionate about research, Dr. Kelemen has completed studies on the techniques of intraoperative radiation, as well as the use of genotyping in early breast cancer. Studying the genetic makeup of tumors allows us to personalized treatment as much possible when it comes to diagnosis and treatment, says Dr. Kelemen. He has presented at national conferences and is widely published on these topics.

Dr. Kelemen is also an associate professor of surgery at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, where he teaches students the importance of character. To become a doctor, you have to learn about organic chemistry, he says. But what are you going to do at 3 in the morning when you have a problem that's hard to solve? How are you going to treat that patient at that time? Tenacity and devotion are among the most important things in medicine.

Dr. Kelemen is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in Lymphadenectomy. His top areas of expertise are Breast Cancer, Fibrocystic Breast Disease, Paget Disease of the Breast, Intraductal Papilloma, and Lymphadenectomy.

His clinical research consists of co-authoring 12 peer reviewed articles and participating in 2 clinical trials. MediFind looks at clinical research from the past 15 years.