Dr. Joanna Meehan Rhodes, MD

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Joanna M. Rhodes, MD, MSCE, is the director of the Northwell Health Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Research and Treatment Center. She specializes in the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other lymphomas. She also runs clinical trials to better understand the biology of these diseases, as well as clinical trials to bring novel treatments to patients. “By having clinical trials available, we are able to put patients on new agents or provide them with access to combinations of existing therapies that may improve outcomes,” Dr. Rhodes says. “Patients get a different experience than they would in an office that may not have access to clinical trials.” Dr. Rhodes decided to become a doctor when a friend’s father died of brain cancer. “I wanted to be part of designing cures for cancer,” she says. That interest led her to get a master’s in medical sciences. She then worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the division of bone marrow transplants. “The work there really solidified my desire to improve outcomes for patients with hematologic malignancies,” she says. Board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, Dr. Rhodes earned her medical degree at the State University of Stony Brook School of Medicine. After completing her residency at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, she went on to do a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is now an assistant professor of medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Rhodes’ research has been presented at national and international scientific meetings as well as published in multiple peer-reviewed journals. She is an active member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Rhodes received an American Society of Clinical Oncology Conquer Cancer Young Investigator’s Award in 2019. “My approach is very patient centered,” Dr. Rhodes says. “I take in account their disease’s biology, their goals, values and lifestyles to provide them with personalized care for their disease.”