About Edwin Choy, MD, PhD
Dr. Choy is the Director of Sarcoma Research at the Division of Hematology Oncology at MGH. He specialized in the medical management of patients with sarcomas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, chordomas, and desmoid tumors. He works closely with a team of world class surgical, orthopedic, and radiation oncologists as well as connective tissue pathologists and radiologists to provide optimal care for his patients. He directs a clinical trials program at the MGH Center for Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Oncology that includes 9-12 active phase I-III clinical trials. He also maintains an active scientific research program that investigates diverse areas of sarcoma therapy ranging from the use of nanotechnology and other translational research tools aimed at developing new targeted therapies for treating cancers to preclinical studies using cell lines and animal models to better understand the molecular basis of sarcoma biology.
Departments, Centers, & Programs:
Clinical Interests:
- Chordoma
- Desmoid tumor
- Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)
- Gastrointestinal tumor
- Osteosarcoma
- Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Oncology
- Soft tissue sarcoma
Treats:
- Adult
Locations
Mass General Cancer Center: Hematology Oncology
55 Fruit St.
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-724-4000
Fax: 617-643-1915
Mass General Cancer Center in Waltham
52 Second Ave.
Suite 1110
Waltham, MA 02451
Phone: 781-487-6100
Medical Education
- M.D., Ph.D., New York University
- Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Fellowship, Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Fellowship, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare
- Cigna
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Coventry
- Fallon Health
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
- Humana
- Maine Community Health Options
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan
- MassHealth
- Medicaid ME
- Medicaid NH
- Medicaid NY
- Medicaid RI
- Medicaid VT
- Medicare
- Medicare ACO
- Multiplan
- Railroad Medicare
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- United Health Care
- Wellpoint
- WellSense
- WellSense NH
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
Dr. Choy is dedicated to research, teaching, and caring for patients with sarcomas, chordomas, and desmoid tumors. His research endeavors include basic laboratory research, translational studies, and clinical trials all aimed at improving care for cancer patients.
In the laboratory, Choy collaborates with Dr. Zhenfeng Duan and Dr. Francis Hornicek to study the genetics and biology of chemotherapy resistance. In collaboration with investigators at MIT and DFCI, Choy has collected 100 osteosarcoma tumor samples and genotyped them for over one thousand mutations occurring in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. He has currently validated 15 mutations and these findings were presented at the international Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) meeting in November 2009. Choy also holds joint collaborative sessions with investigators at MIT, sponsored by the Koch Institute, to explore further translational projects to benefit sarcoma patients.
Choy has led the growth of an active clinical research program in sarcomas, expanding the number of clinical trials to 12 trials currently, increasing participation in DF/HCC phase I programs, and increasing the overall enrollment rate onto studies. This success in growing our sarcoma program has led to five abstracts that were presented at this year's annual ASCO meeting. Choy's work has been recognized by a career development award from Harvard Catalyst.
Publications
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Select Publications:
- Choy, E.*, Yelensky, R.*, Bonakdar, S., et al. (2008) "Genetic Analysis of Human Traits In-Vitro: Drug Response and Gene Expression in Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines." PLOS Genetics, 4(11):e1000287. *equally contributing first-authors
- Duan, Z.*, Choy, E.*, Harmon, D., Yang, C., Ryu, K., Schwab, J., Mankin, H., and Hornicek, F. (2009) "Insulin-like growth factor-I receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor cyclolignan picropodophyllin inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in multidrug resistant osteosarcoma cell lines." Mol. Cancer Ther. 8(8):2122-30. Epub 2009 Jul 28. *equally contributing first-authors
- Choy, E., Digumarthy, S., and Koplin, S. (2009) "A 23 year old man with cough, hoarseness, and fever." Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital, New Engl J Med. 361(21):2080-7.
- Choy, E. and Philips, M.R. (2000) "Expression and activity of a prenylcysteine-directed carboxyl methyltransferase." Methods in Enzymology 325, 101-114.
- Dai, Q., Choy, E., Chiu, V., Romano, J., Slivka, S.R., Steitz, S.A., Michaelis, S., and Philips, M.R. (1998) "Mammalian Prenylcysteine Prenyltransferase is in the Endoplasmic Reticulum." Journal of Biological Chemistry 273(24), 15030-15034.
- Choy, E., Chiu, V.K., Silletti, J., Feoktistov, M., Morimoto, T., Michaelson, D., Ivanov, I.E., and Philips, M.R. (1999) "Endomembrane Trafficking of Ras: the CAAX Motif Targets Proteins to the ER and Golgi." Cell 98, 69-80.
Extremely knowledgeable and compassionate. Recommend him to anyone. Very, very, very good doctor.
Have been his patient for nearly 10 years. Was very fortunate that he was put in my path.
This provider, along with his team, have been very helpful going through all these tests that I need to get done. They've stepped up and made all the appropriate appointments for me. They've been in contact with me. I just think they're the best.
Dr. Choy knew all aspects of my son's health issue. He explained everything clearly thoroughly. He answered any and all questions and asked if we had any others. We planned for follow up scans and appointments. I would recommend him to b anyone.
Hello, yes, I'd like to say I am extremely pleased and satisfied with the care I receive from Dr. Choy. He is excellent, thorough, communicative. He's a good listener. I feel total confidence and trust in him, and I can't say enough about the way he has taken care of me. And I'd also like to compliment Mass General. I think everybody could learn ... Read More
I believe that Dr. Choy is providing me with the best of care.
Dr. Choy is outstanding. We come to him because of his medicine, science, and profound humanity and caring. He goes above and beyond the job always, and we feel safe with him. And we are enormously grateful to him. He really should be celebrated for his tremendous work.
Very caring and responsive to patient emotions.
Dr. Choy was very knowledgeable and able to share information clearly and make it understandable for me and my husband. Dr. Choy made sure that I understood what the next steps in treatment were and how to contact him if necessary. It was a reassuring first visit.
Dr. Choy is a great doctor he explains things clearly and and explains what we've done and what's next every time.