NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center brings state-of-the-art care to Sunset Park

NYU Langone has raised the bar for cancer care in Brooklyn with its new Perlmutter Cancer Center located at 5718 Second Avenue in Sunset Park.  The multi-specialty outpatient facility brings world-class care to the borough and is just a few blocks away from NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn, formerly known as Lutheran Medical Center.

On Friday, June 7, the leading medical specialists at Perlmutter offered the media an exclusive tour of the facility. The newest cutting-edge Perlmutter center joins several locations in Brooklyn including the Perlmutter Cancer Center in Midwood, another Hematology/Oncology practice and infusion center that provides on-site treatment for a wide range of cancers.

The prevailing notion is that with the caliber of cancer care offered at the Perlmutter facilities there is no reason to leave the borough for the finest cancer care within the city, state or the country.

“Brooklyn is the fourth largest city in the United States and I think it deserves comprehensive cancer care and that’s our goal here at Perlmutter Cancer Center,” said Dr. Benjamin Neel, director of the center. “So we don’t plan to be itinerants, we plan to be actively engaged in the community and develop population efforts here and deliver state-of-the-art 2019 cancer care going forward available to the Brooklyn community.”

The center is an ultra modern 25,000-square-foot facility that offers radiation and infusion treatments for patients with all cancer types and blood disorders. It boasts five exam rooms on the first floor dedicated to radiation and oncology, and on the second floor, four exam rooms with 21 chairs for infusion and blood transfusions. Patients receive all the amenities available while undergoing treatment at the center.

Dr. Abraham Chachoua, Jay & Isabel Fine professor of oncology, Department of Medicine and associate director of cancer services at Perlmutter Cancer Center, said that the center, along with its team of experts, would be bringing further specialty care directly to the patients. “So we will be starting out with lung, breast and gastrointestinal malignancies and building as we go along,” he said.

Chachoua said the doctors at the center would consult at the beginning of each day, review all the cases and see their patients. He said that having everything in one place allows the center to offer the optimal care necessary to get the best outcomes possible.

Chachoua expressed his hope that offering state-of-the-art cancer screenings will lead to earlier detection and hopefully stop certain cancers before they have a chance to develop. He cited certain cancers prevalent in the neighboring community. “There’s a preponderance of lung cancer, breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, and there’s also thyroid and prostate cancer,” said Chachoua, adding, “The best way to cure cancer is to prevent it and if you can’t prevent it you pick it up early so that you can get rid of it.”

Chachoua credited his colleague Dr. Rami Daya, chief of medical oncology, NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn, as being instrumental in the development of the center. He said that Daya, who has been in practice for over 20 years and with NYU Langone – Brooklyn for the past four, knows everything about Brooklyn and its cancer centers. Daya will be in charge of the infusion services at the new center.

“Cancer treatment in Brooklyn is taking a very exciting step with the opening of this new cancer center in Sunset Park,” Daya told this paper. “It will provide the newest in the state of the art in cancer treatment with chemotherapy, Immunotherapy and radiation therapy. Patients will be cared for in a friendly and comfortable setting, by a competent and compassionate team of nurses, pharmacists and medical oncologists,” he added.

Attending the center’s unveiling were Assemblymember Felix Ortiz and Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann.

Ortiz, who has a family history of cancer, was thrilled to have the new center located within his district. “NYU has really brought us something extra to make sure that our community will be best cared for,” said Ortiz. “Cancer does not discriminate against anybody, rich, poor, Spanish, black, white, whatever. When the cancer comes, the cancer comes, and we really need to promote screenings which are critical as a means of prevention. You have a great reputation and I have a great deal of respect for NYU, so let’s go out there and bring awareness for what can be done.”


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