Dr. John E. Kehoe, MD

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Get to know Breast Cancer Surgeon and Surgical Oncologist Dr. John E. Kehoe, who serves patients in New York, New York.

Dr. Kehoe is a board-certified breast cancer surgeon and surgical oncologist. Over two decades ago, he founded and developed a private, full service, free standing breast cancer diagnosis and treatment center, Dr. John Kehoe Breast Center – in New York City, New York. 

Born in the Midwest, Dr. Kehoe attended high school in Davenport, Iowa. Turning down a number of football scholarships, he attended college at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he majored in English Literature and graduated Cum Laude. He was a standout athlete in both football and rugby and achieved national recognition in both sports. His senior thesis was a creative writing project describing the experience of a single, defining football game.

After college and before attending the Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, he taught high school English, Art History, and Studio Photography while taking pre-med science courses at night. After finishing medical school, he opted for a career in general surgery and later, surgical oncology. He completed his surgical internship and residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. 

While in his residency training, he spent a year at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer as a Special Fellow in Nutrition and Metabolism. Upon completing his residency in general surgery, he returned to Sloan Kettering as a Surgical Oncology Fellow and completed an additional two years of training. He was board certified in 1986 and recertified in 1997.

Recognized as an expert in his field, Dr. Kehoe’s first position was at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, where he had a brief stint as an academic and research surgical oncologist. He abandoned this around 1990 and went into the private practice of surgery as a surgical oncologist and general surgeon in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. A few years later, he focused exclusively on breast cancer. He then conceived and founded an innovative breast center facility in Brooklyn that has provided comprehensive breast medical care from screening and diagnosis to breast cancer treatment. He has maintained this facility and this practice since then and is now partnering with others to take this concept into other venues. He has also been an attending surgeon at Beth Israel Medical Center, Methodist Hospital, and Staten Island University Hospital.

Breast cancer surgery includes different procedures such as: surgery to remove the entire breast (mastectomy), surgery to remove a portion of the breast tissue (lumpectomy), and surgery to remove nearby lymph nodes. A doctor who specializes in these types of procedures is called a breast cancer surgeon. 

Surgical oncology is a cancer care field that focuses on using surgery to diagnose, stage, and treat cancer. A surgical oncologist is a doctor who specializes in the surgical treatment of cancer. They may also perform palliative surgeries to help control pain, increase a patient’s comfort level, and manage cancer-related symptoms and side effects.

When not working or keeping up with developments in his field, Dr. Kehoe maintains his former academic interest in literature, art history, philosophy, and writing. He reads and studies avidly when he has the time and appreciates exercising as time permits. He has no interest in retiring from the clinical practice of surgery and his work in the breast center, which he loves.

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