Leah Thompson, MD

Q: Education

UndergraduateAmherst CollegeMedical SchoolHarvard Medical SchoolTransitional Year (PGY 1)Brigham and Women’s HospitalResidencyHarvard Radiation Oncology Program

Radiation Oncologist

Dr. Leah Thompson is an attending radiation oncologist at the New York Proton Center who specializes in the treatment of brain and central nervous system tumors, as well as lung and breast cancers.

Dr. Thompson joins the New York Proton Center following a radiation oncology residency at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, where she served as Education Chief Resident. Her research focuses on identifying which older adults and other patients with complex diseases are most likely to experience treatment complications, so that care can be tailored to support their priorities, outcomes, and quality of life.

Philosophy of Care

Dr. Thompson believes the best cancer care is built on taking the time to understand what matters most to each patient, so that treatment reflects their values, circumstances, and the best-available evidence. During radiation therapy and beyond, she aims to partner with patients and their families to protect the goals that matter most to them, whether that is preserving a sense of self, staying engaged in work and community, or reaching a milestone with loved ones.

Learn More About Dr. Thompson

Education

Undergraduate
Amherst College
Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Transitional Year (PGY 1)
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Residency
Harvard Radiation Oncology Program

Research

Dr. Thompson studies risk prediction and care optimization for older adults and other patients navigating serious illness. Her work develops and validates multimodal prognostic models that couple AI-derived biomarkers with established geriatric screening tools and patient-reported outcomes to predict survival, toxicity, and recurrence. She is the investigator on several trials for older adults, including Lung-GAP (AI-informed supportive care referral in early-stage lung cancer) and ELITE-GBM (dose escalation in glioblastoma brain tumors), among other protocols examining functional and quality-of-life outcomes after post-mastectomy radiation and caregiver burden in older-adult dyads.

Leadership

Dr. Thompson is the New York Proton Center’s lead physician for primary brain tumors.