Sagar Rakshit, MD

Description

Sagar Rakshit, MD, is an attending medical oncologist at the Northwell Cancer Institute. He treats patients with thoracic and head and neck malignancy.Dr Rakshit's interest in medicine stemmed from his brother's experience with an illness during their childhood in India. The physicians that took care of my brother were so warm and compassionate, he says. Seeing these wonderful interactions at a time of crisis for our family was revelatory for me. The experience helps me bring a lot of bedside compassion for what the patient and their loved ones are going through.Determined to study medicine, Dr. Rakshit cleared his first hurdle by placing number one out of 300, 000 students applying to medical schools across India the year he took the test. He attended All India Institute of Medical Sciences, then moved to the United States for his residency at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, followed by and a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He was drawn to thoracic oncology because of the progress and promise of therapies that continue to drive the treatment of lung cancer, such as targeted therapies and immunotherapy. Thoracic oncology is the poster child for targeted inhibitors because we now have more than eight different mutations for which we have targeted treatments, many more than in other kinds of solid tumor oncology cases, he says. He has also published numerous articles on using AI/deep learning models to identify predictors of relapse and response to treatment in lung cancer.When he first came to the United States, Dr. Rakshit's visa required that he work for three years in an underserved area. He chose a very busy oncology clinic that served almost the entire western part of North Dakota, eastern part of Montana and northern part of South Dakota. It was an invaluable experience to navigate how to deliver the best care to the huge variety of patients we'd see. Patients might travel five hours for an infusion, sometimes through winter storms. The experience made me realize that as doctors, we have to think about each patient's life circumstances and challenges.Dr. Rakshit chose Northwell because it offered the opportunity to sub-specialize and hone his expertise in his areas of interest. And as much as he loves his work at Northwell and the team members and mentors he's found here, he can't help but miss the time he spent exploring, kayaking and camping in the great expanses and national parks of the American West.