David Kirsch completed his residency at Massachusetts General/Harvard Medical School in radiation oncology, and performed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT’s Center for Cancer Research. He was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School for two years before joining the Duke University School of Medicine in 2007.
His clinical focus is on the care of patients with bone and soft tissue sarcomas. David also leads a cancer research laboratory. This is where David and his team of graduate students, post-docs, and technicians use cutting edge technologies in mouse genetics, imaging, and molecular and cell biology to study the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer. He has received major biomedical research grants during his young career from NIH, NASA, and the Duke Cancer Center. In 2008 he was one of the first scientists to receive a $450,000 grant as the recipient of the Damon Runyon Rachleff Innovation Award to develop molecular imaging technology to detect microscopic residual cancer during surgery. In 2010 he received the American Society of Clinical Oncology Advanced Clinical Research Award in Sarcoma including a $450,000 grant to take the newly developed technology from the lab to the operating room through clinical trials. In 2010 he received the Michael Fry Research Award for junior scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to radiation research.
David is also a prolific contributor to the medical field. He has published over 59 articles in medical journals, written five chapters in medical books, and has served as a reviewer for numerous publications and NIH grants. He mentors graduate students, medical students, residents, and oncology fellows in his lab. David sits on major committees at Duke University School of Medicine and is a co-leader for the Radiation Oncology and Imaging Program in the Duke Cancer Institute.