Russell S. Berman MD, Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, is a Surgical Oncologist who specializes in the treatment of patients with melanoma, non-melanoma cutaneous cancers, and sarcomas (soft tissue, retroperitoneal, and pelvic). He sees patients at both the Manhattan Upper East Side Campus as well as at NYP Brooklyn Campus. Administratively, Dr. Berman is the Associate Director for Clinical Education and the Associate Director for Surgical Oncology Network Integration for the Weill Cornell Medicine Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center.  

A graduate of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, he performed his surgical training at NYU and Bellevue Hospitals.  He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he also dedicated research time to investigating programmed cell death resistance during cancer progression. After training, Dr. Berman was recruited back to NYU. At NYU Dr. Berman was a tenured Professor of Surgery and served as Vice Chair for Surgical Education and Faculty Affairs, Chief of Surgical Oncology, and the long-standing Director of the Surgery Residency Program. A recipient of numerous teaching and graduate medical education awards, Dr. Berman has now been recruited to WCM to continue his passion for patient care, medical education (for students, trainees, and practicing clinicians) and growing multidisciplinary oncologic care and research programs. 

Dr. Berman’s passion for cancer care and education/training extends to the national and international levels as well. At the national level, Dr. Berman recently served as Chair of the Complex General Surgical Oncology Board of the American Board of Surgery, where he was also chaired the American Board of Surgery (ABS) Nominating Committee and Certifying Examination Committee.  He also was elected as Recorder of the ABS Council, having served as a Director and Councilor of the American Board of Surgery. 

Presently, Dr. Berman is President Elect (2025) of the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO), the largest international organization of surgeons focused on care of the cancer patient. At the SSO he has also been held the positions of Vice President, Executive Council Member, Training Committee Chair, and Chair of the Education Council.   Internationally, Dr. Berman is currently serving as the President of the Global Forum on Cancer Surgeons where he has co-authored the standard international curriculum in surgical oncology clinical training and the curriculum for oncologic research training.   These training guidelines are currently being utilized by numerous countries in South America, Asia, and Africa. 

In 2022 Dr. Berman was elected as a member of the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, an honor bestowed upon a select group of surgeons internationally. Additionally, Dr. Berman also serves on the ACGME Review Committee for Surgery, the oversight body for accrediting general surgery and complex general surgical oncology training programs in the United States. As a Melanoma Content Expert for the American College of Surgeons, he has co-authored standard melanoma operative procedure guidelines as well as operative reporting standards.  As an author on over 200 peer-reviewed articles in the scientific literature, Dr. Berman also serves on the Editorial Boards of UpToDate, Surgical Oncology Insight and, the NCI Physicians Data Query. He recently completed terms on the Editorial Board of Annals of Surgical Oncology, as Associate Editor for the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and as founding Chief Editor for the Complex General Surgical Oncology SCORE Training Portal for fellowship training and education.  

From the research perspective, Dr. Berman focuses on melanoma and surgical education.  In addition to both clinical and translational research studies in melanoma, he has been involved in an active collaboration that investigates the care of solid tumor at safety net hospitals. From the surgical education research perspective, Dr. Berman co-authored the Professionalism in Surgical Training curriculum that became the basis for the national standard.