Elizabeth Plimack, MD, MS
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Clinical Locations
Primary Location
Fox Chase Cancer Center
333 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19111
Chief, Division of Genitourinary Medical Oncology
Associate Professor, Department of Hematology/Oncology
Director, Genitourinary Clinical Research
Kidney, Bladder, and Prostate Cancer TRDG Member
NCCN, Bladder/Penile Cancers Panel Member
NCCN, Kidney Cancer Panel Member
NCCN, Prostate Cancer Panel Member
Specialties
Research Program
Key Awards
Medical Oncology
Treatment Philosophy
With a diagnosis of cancer comes uncertainty and fear for many patients. As a medical oncologist, my first job is to help each patient understand his or her diagnosis. With that understanding, together we can design the best plan of action. At Fox Chase, each patient has the benefit of an interdisciplinary team working together to ensure the highest quality care. This interdisciplinary approach is crucial in determining and implementing the best treatment plan.
I specialize in the treatment of kidney, bladder, prostate and testicular cancer, and my clinical practice is focused on these diseases. By concentrating exclusively on genitourinary malignancies I am able to offer expert knowledge as well as access to both standard treatments and emerging therapies in the form of clinical trials. The pace of scientific discovery has accelerated in recent decades, and fortunately we have seen these discoveries translate into meaningful improvements in cancer treatments.
As part of the genitourinary group here at Fox Chase, I am proud to be a part of a team of distinguished researchers who have pioneered many of these new treatments. My particular research efforts focus on the development of new therapies for bladder and kidney cancer.
Educational Background
- Chief Fellow, Medical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
- Intern and Resident, Internal Medicine, New York University Medical Center / Bellevue Hospital, NY
- MS, Patient-Based Biologic Research, University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 2008
- MD with Honors in Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, 2002
Memberships
- National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
- Bladder/Penile Cancers Panel
- Kidney/Testicular Cancers Panel
- Prostate Cancer Panel
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
Honors & Awards
- Philadelphia Magazine Top Doctors, 2017-19
- America's Top Doctors®, 2017
- Leadership Forum Excellence Award, Fox Chase Cancer Center, 2012
- Humanitas Award, Division of Cancer Medicine Hematology/Oncology Fellowship, MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2008
- Award for Achievement in Clinical Investigation, Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2008
- Research Forum, MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2008
- Honorable Mention, First Annual Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, 2008
- ASCO Foundation Merit Award, ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, 2008
Al De Carlo
Al De Carlo
Now that I’m 74 and retired, I spend most of my time outside or in the garage. Since my service in the Navy, where I worked as a ship fitter, taking care of the plumbing and mechanical issues, I’ve always been fascinated with machines and how they work. So for me, as crazy as it seems to my wife, working outside, tinkering with machines, and splitting wood, isn’t hard work – it’s my playtime.
Michael Fenick
Michael Fenick
On my 56th birthday in October 2012, I learned I had a mass on my bladder, and eight weeks later I was told that I had bladder cancer. Now, years later, my wife, Michele, and I enjoy spending time with children and grandchildren, traveling, and socializing with our friends.
Ed Horowitz
Ed Horowitz
When Ed Horowitz was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, he had to make a decision whether to undergo radiation or surgery. After receiving one opinion from a surgeon at a large Philadelphia hospital, he decided to seek a second opinion from Dr. Eric Horwitz, chair of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Ed liked Dr. Horowitz's warm demeanor and sense of humor and decided to be treated with IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy) combined with hormone injections, followed by radiation and hormone therapy. The treatment was successful. A few years later, his cancer returned, isolated to his shoulder this time. Ed started another course of chemotherapy in March 2016. "My cancer has not grown and has not spread since I completed chemotherapy," he said. "I always recommend Fox Chase to anyone considering treatment for prostate cancer. I consider myself fortunate to have gone there for treatment."
Kevin Galligan
Kevin Galligan
Kevin Galligan had a respiratory infection and cough in 2012, when his doctor scheduled an X-ray which detected an issue with his right lung. Kevin was beyond frustrated when several tests he underwent by a pulmonologist were found to be inconclusive. However, after being referred to a thoracic surgeon, he was diagnosed with stage 4 renal cancer. Kevin had his right kidney and a rib removed before finding out the cancer had spread to his lung. He was then referred to Fox Chase Cancer Center, where he enrolled in a clinical trial. As a result, his tumors have continued to shrink. "Being referred to Dr. Plimack at Fox Chase was the best thing that could have happened to me," he said. "At Fox Chase, I received state-of-the-art treatment, and I have been able to easily manage the side effects of the clinical trial drugs. I remain very active and am able to work every day at an international logistics and transportation company, where I am a vice president."
Pages
Research Program
Research Interests
- Biomarkers predictive of response to neoadjuvant cisplatin based chemotherapy in bladder cancer
- Refining neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens for bladder cancer
- Developmental Therapeutics – early stage clinical trials of novel agents
- Immunotherapy in GU Malignancies
Selected Publications
Bamias A, Tzannis K, Bamia C, Harshman LC, Crabb S, Plimack ER, Pal S, De Giorgi U, Ladoire S, Theodore C, Agarwal N, Yu EY, Niegisch G, Sternberg CN, Srinivas S, Vaishampayan U, Necchi A, Liontos M, Rosenberg JE, Powles T, Bellmunt J, Galsky MD. The Impact of Cisplatin- or Non-Cisplatin-Containing Chemotherapy on Long-Term and Conditional Survival of Patients with Advanced Urinary Tract Cancer. The oncologist, 2019.
Changa NM, Xie WL, Bilen MA, Dzimitrowicz H, Burkart J, Geynisman DM, Balakrishnan A, Bowman IA, Jain R, Stadler W, Zakharia Y, Narayan V, Beuselinck B, McKay RR, Tripathi A, Pachynski R, Hahn AW, Hsu J, Shah SA, Lam ET, Rose TL, Mega AE, Vogelzang N, Harrison MR, Mortazavi A, Plimack ER, Vaishampayan U, Hammers H, George S, Haas N, Agarwal N, Pal SK, Srinivas S, Carneiro BA, Heng DYC, Bosse D, Choueiri TK, Harshman LC. Cabozantinib in advanced non-clear-cell renal cell carcinoma: a multicentre, retrospective, cohort study. Lancet Oncology, 20(4):581-90, 2019.
Rouvinov K, Plimack ER, Zibelman M, Ghatalia P, Geynisman DM. Update on perioperative systemic therapy for urothelial carcinoma. Clinical advances in hematology & oncology : H&O, 17(3):176-83, 2019.
Voss MH, Bhatt RS, Vogelzang NJ, Fishman M, Alter RS, Rini BI, Beck JT, Joshi M, Hauke R, Atkins MB, Burgess E, Logan TF, Shaffer D, Parikh R, Moazzam N, Zhang X, Glasser C, Sherman ML, Plimack ER. A phase 2, randomized trial evaluating the combination of dalantercept plus axitinib in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Cancer, 2019.
Amin A, Plimack ER, Ernstoff MS, Lewis LD, Bauer TM, McDermott DF, Carducci M, Kollmannsberger C, Rini BI, Heng DYC, Knox J, Voss MH, Spratlin J, Berghorn E, Yang L, Hammers HJ. Correction to: Safety and efficacy of nivolumab in combination with sunitinib or pazopanib in advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma: the CheckMate 016 study. Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 7(1):73, 2019. PMC6416882
He AR, Cohen RB, Denlinger CS, Sama A, Birnbaum A, Hwang J, Sato T, Lewis N, Mynderse M, Niland M, Giles J, Wallin J, Moser B, Zhang W, Walgren R, Plimack ER. First-in-Human Phase I Study of Merestinib, an Oral Multikinase Inhibitor, in Patients with Advanced Cancer. The oncologist, 2019.
Martinez Chanza N, Xie W, Asim Bilen M, Dzimitrowicz H, Burkart J, Geynisman DM, Balakrishnan A, Bowman IA, Jain R, Stadler W, Zakharia Y, Narayan V, Beuselinck B, McKay RR, Tripathi A, Pachynski R, Hahn AW, Hsu J, Shah SA, Lam ET, Rose TL, Mega AE, Vogelzang N, Harrison MR, Mortazavi A, Plimack ER, Vaishampayan U, Hammers H, George S, Haas N, Agarwal N, Pal SK, Srinivas S, Carneiro BA, Heng DYC, Bosse D, Choueiri TK, Harshman LC. Cabozantinib in advanced non-clear-cell renal cell carcinoma: a multicentre, retrospective, cohort study. The Lancet Oncology, 2019.
Godwin JL, Hoffman-Censits J, Plimack E. Recent developments in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer. Urologic oncology, 36(3):109-14, 2018. PubMed
Geynisman DM, Abbosh PH, Plimack ER, Zibelman M. Chemoimmunotherapy in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma. Eur Urol, 2018.
Additional Publications
Related Articles
6 PATIENT COMMENTS
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5.0
February 12, 2019
Dr. Plimack is the 'best'.
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5.0
February 06, 2019
All good.
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5.0
November 18, 2018
Dr. Plimack, [...] & [...] are always concerned & probe into the nature of my symptoms until they are decided. They always take time & are thorough.
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5.0
September 24, 2018
Outstanding care, highly knowledgeable, instills confidence, can't imagine better care available anywhere.
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5.0
June 28, 2018
Very good.
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4.4
June 18, 2018
Excellent.
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