Dr. David Newton Danforth Jr., MD, MS

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Get to know Surgical Oncologist Dr. David N. Danforth Jr., who serves patients in Bethesda, Maryland.

Well-versed in the field of surgical oncology, Dr. Danforth is an Associate Research Physician with the Surgery Branch at the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research. His areas of expertise include molecular characteristics of breast epithelium, breast cancer disparities, breast carcinogenesis, breast cancer management, and breast cancer prevention.

Working alongside Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, Dr. Danforth’s research efforts are focused primarily on the molecular characteristics of early breast carcinogenesis which are present in normal breast epithelium and their use to develop a molecular signature for risk assessment, and to develop new targets for breast cancer prevention. An important second area of interest of Dr. Danforth are the disparities in breast cancer outcomes between Caucasian, African American and Hispanic women, especially the molecular basis for these disparities and how they are influenced by health care, socioeconomic and other non-biological factors. A model has been developed to describe these relationships.

The Center for Cancer Research is the largest division of the National Cancer Institute’s intramural research program with nearly 250 basic and clinical research groups located on two campuses just outside of Washington, D.C. It is home to an extraordinary group of scientists and clinicians exploring the cutting-edge of cancer and HIV/AIDS research. They work on a wide spectrum of biological and biomedical problems ranging from visualizing and understanding the structure of individual genes and proteins, developing novel methods for drug discovery, to inventing biomedical devices and technology and creating innovative ways to treat patients in the NIH Clinical Center.

Regarding his educational background, Dr. Danforth received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University, his medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and his Master of Science degree in Physiology from the University of New Mexico. He completed his surgical residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City, and received fellowship training in surgical oncology at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, and at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Additional research training included a senior staff fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Lippman, NCI.

Surgical oncology is the branch of surgery applied to oncology. It focuses on the surgical management of tumors, especially cancerous tumors. A surgical oncologist removes the tumor and nearby tissue during surgery. He or she also performs certain types of biopsies to help diagnose cancer.

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