Clark DuMontier, MD, MPH

Brigham And Women's Hospital

Academic Titles

Assistant Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Research Program Affiliation

Member, Lymphoma and Myeloma

Member, Leukemia

Research Abstract

I am a geriatrician and clinical researcher focused on integrating geriatrics into oncology to improve the care of older adults with cancer. I co-direct the Older Adult Hematologic Malignancies Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and I founded and currently staff the Boston VA Geriatric Oncology Clinic—recognized by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement with the highest level of certification as an Age Friendly Health System. My research in these roles serves to fill a gap related to the lack of older adults and measurement of relevant endpoints in trials investigating novel cancer therapies. My work has demonstrated that geriatric assessment measures such as functional status, mobility, frailty, and multimorbidity impact outcomes independently of cancer-specific measures like tumor stage and genetics. To aid oncology teams in incorporating these geriatric measures into busy clinical and research settings, I have investigated novel approaches to their delivery, including virtual frailty assessment in older adults’ homes and electronic measures of frailty and multimorbidity that are readily-derived from existing data in the electronic health record. A major goal driving these directions is to support use of frailty assessment early and often in the decision-making process, guiding cancer treatment and supportive care interventions.