Menendez Named Director Of Clinical Cancer Genetics

Carolyn Menendez, MD, FACS, assistant professor of Surgical Oncology has been appointed director of Duke Cancer Institute’s Clinical Cancer Genetics Program.

In her newly appointed position leading Clinical Cancer Genetics, including the Hereditary Cancer Clinic, Menendez will provide leadership, strategy and oversight for the clinic, which opened under the direction of P. Kelly Marcom, MD, in 1999 to offer risk assessment and education to patients with cancer and people with a family history of cancer of other risk factors. Menendez will be responsible for articulating a vision of programmatic excellence for Clinical Cancer Genetics. She will identify short and long-term objectives required to move the program, which incorporates clinical care, research and education, toward this vision.

"In the next phase of the clinical cancer genetics program, we will increase multi-disciplinary engagement," said Menendez. "This will begin with the expansion of case conferences to include thought leaders in all specialities involved in cancer care and high-risk surveillance and research projects. One of my initial objectives for the hereditary cancer clinics is to increase access to patients system-wide, including Duke Regional and Duke Raleigh locations, reducing barriers to quality genetic counseling and testing.”

Menendez joined Duke in September 2018. Prior to joining Duke, from 2015 to 2018, Menendez was affiliated with Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she served as medical director of Clinical Cancer Genetics, assisting in the growth of the program and overseeing quality improvement initiatives, including the high-risk clinic and integration to EPIC. Menendez was affiliated with Carolinas Health Care System (Atrium) from 2008 to 2015. In 2012, after completing the Intensive Course in Cancer Genetics (ICCG) at City of Hope Cancer Center, she was appointed to serve as medical director of Clinical Cancer Genetics. She has been a practicing breast surgeon since 2004.

Menendez received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of California at Irvine, in Irvine, California. She received her medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. Menendez completed her residency in General Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco at Fresno. She is the author of numerous publications and holds a number of professional memberships, including the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), and is a panel member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).