Jeffrey Ye, MD, PhD

Bio

I came to Northern California from New York City, where I lived for more than two decades since I came to the United States. After finishing medical school in China, I came to America to pursue graduate studies in molecular biology. I was trained at the New York University School of Medicine and obtained a PhD in molecular pharmacology. I then obtained post-doctoral fellowships to study at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD), and at the Rockefeller University (New York, NY), under the mentorship of a Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baltimore. Subsequently I did an internal medicine residency at the New York University School of Medicine, and medical oncology/hematology fellowship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. After training, I worked for four years as a breast cancer attending physician in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, while working in the laboratory at the Rockefeller University as an adjunct faculty member. I joined Kaiser Permanente in 2005 to pursue a full-time clinical practice.

My Medical Specialty

More details about my specialty:

Cancer medicine attracted me because I could directly apply my research training to patient care. In the past decade, the advance in molecular biology has completely changed the way we treat malignancies. New drugs and tools are coming from laboratories to the bedside with lightning speed. This makes it an exciting period for both Oncologists and, more importantly, for our patients, who are benefiting directly from the rapid progress in basic research. For cancer patients, we are providing treatments that were unimaginable even just five years ago.

I remember vividly a young patient during my fellowship training, who was dying from advanced chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). He and his wife had already bought tickets to fly to Shanghai, my hometown, to seek an experimental treatment using arsenic trioxide developed by the doctors in Shanghai not yet available in the United States. He was very weak, and was advised by the doctors in Shanghai to fly to New York City instead, because this medicine was just made available to Sloan-Kettering under a research protocol. The patient was so sick that when he arrived, he was directly admitted to the intensive care unit. The medicine was slowly infused, with all of us sweating, our hearts pounding, not knowing what to expect from giving this patient a dose of a perceived toxin.

In several days, he walked out of the ICU, and in a few weeks, he flew back to Seattle in very good health. Even the most senior (and cynical) doctor on our team had tears in his eyes witnessing this miracle occurring in front of our eyes.

In fact, he was the first patient being treated with this drug in the United States, and now this medicine has been used all over the world. This event profoundly changed my view on my profession, and I am very hopeful that a decade from now, many incurable malignancies will be effectively controlled or even cured, and I want to be part of this revolution.

As an oncologist, I am often asked on airplanes or at cocktail parties why I choose this specialty. People are afraid of cancer; therefore, they often have a hard time understanding why some would choose to work in this field. Although I do not always provide a direct answer, deep in my heart I know the reason: the patients. It is the patients that give us inspiration. The patients provide a reason for us to come to work every morning. We help cancer patients every day to obtain a cure for this potentially lethal disease. When a cure is not possible for the patient, we do our best to prolong their lives and provide them with the best quality of life possible with the most compassion that we can. By prolonging life, we give our patients a chance to benefit from the therapies that are on the horizon. I am proud of what we do. Our nurses, pharmacists, the supporting staff, and the doctors, working as a team, provide a high quality of care to the caner patients in Santa Rosa and the neighboring communities.

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Association of Cancer Research

Great health resources that I refer to:

A book by Katherine Russell Rich: "The Red Devil/To Hell with Cancer - And Back". Originally recommended to me by a colleague and friend who is a breast cancer survivor herself.

Photos from My Training Years or of Practicing Medicine in My Field:

At the NIH

Interests

My favorite book or author:
Many

Family & Friends

Photos of my Family & Friends:

With my daughter at the Yellow Stone National Park

My ideal pet

Pet Photos:

Snoopy

Travel

Favorite place in the world:

Cannot be just one place. Let's try a few:
Dinning table, when hungry;
The bed, when exhausted;
New York or San Francisco, when bored;
Santa Rosa, when tranquility is in order.