Sosipatros Alexander Boikos, MD

Provider is directly employed by MedStar Health

Sosipatros Boikos, MD, is a fellowship-trained, board-certified medical oncologist with clinical privileges at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. He is one of the most experienced sarcoma medical oncologists in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with 11 years of experience treating sarcomas and rare tumors and more than 20 years of experience in the area of sarcoma cancer genetics and cell biology. Dr. Boikos currently serves MedStar Health as Co-Leader of the Sarcoma Working Group at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.  

Dr. Boikos has special training and a clinical interest in treating bone and soft tissue sarcomas; gastrointestinal stromal tumors, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) deficient GISTs; and other rare cancers, including adrenocortical carcinomas, paragangliomas, and neuroendocrine tumors. His extensive research expertise lies in the field of precision medicine, cancer genetics, oncometabolomics, and clinical trials.

Prior to joining MedStar Washington and Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Boikos was an associate professor at the NCI designated Massey Cancer Center/Virginia Commonwealth University, where he served as Director of the Sarcoma Working Group, Co-Director for the Molecular Tumor Board, and Assistant Director of Precision Medicine for the Massey Cancer Center/Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Boikos obtained his medical degree from the University of Crete (Faculty of Medicine) in Greece in 2002. After finishing an internship at Johns Radcliffe Hospital at Oxford University (UK), he joined the National Institutes of Health (USA) in 2004 as a Visiting Research Fellow to study the genetics of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and other rare tumors under Dr. Constantine Stratakis. Dr. Boikos then completed an internal medicine residency at Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore. 

In 2013, he returned to NIH to coordinate the Pediatric and Wild Type GIST clinic and to lead efforts to further elucidate the genetic and epigenetic alterations in SDH-Deficient tumors. More recent work was focused on developing, in collaboration with Anthony Faber’s laboratory, targeted treatments for early phase clinical testing in sarcomas and other types of rare cancers, with a primary focus on apoptosis. Dr. Boikos and his team were able to demonstrate recently that BCL-2 BH3 mimetics can have significant activity in Ewing Sarcoma and Synovial Sarcoma.

Dr. Boikos has published over 65 peer-reviewed manuscripts in high-impact journals, including Nature Genetics, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Oncology, Science Translational Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Find a complete list of Dr. Boikos’s published peer-reviewed papers here.

As a highly accomplished physician-scientist who is dedicated to expanding the knowledge of sarcomas and rare tumors, Dr. Boikos has received multiple awards and research funding throughout his career. He has given more than 100 research presentations in both national and international meeting; written several high-impact reviews and book chapters; been a peer reviewer for more than 20 peer-reviewed journals, including Clinical Cancer Research and Endocrine-Related Cancer; and has been an invited lecturer in areas of both his clinical and research interests.

Passionate about educating clinicians in training, Dr. Boikos has mentored several fellows, residents, and MD and MD/PhD students in medical oncology and cancer biology. He is a co-director for the annual MedStar Georgetown Gastric and Soft Tissue Neoplasms Symposiums. Dr. Boikos is a member of several prestigious cancer societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the European Society of Medical Oncology, the American Academy of Clinical Research, the American College of Physicians, the Southwest Oncology Group, and Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration. He is also a member of the annual Pediatric and Wild Type GIST Clinic at the National Institutes of Health, the Pediatric & SDH-Deficient GIST Symposium in the US, and the CARIS Sarcoma Precision Medicine Group.

Dr. Boikos is married to Dr. Stamatina Danielides, a rheumatologist in Northern Virginia, and has 3 children; Danae, Ioannis, and Phoebe. When not working, he enjoys sailing, hiking, reading books, listening to music, visiting museums, and traveling with his family.

Philosophy of Care

“My philosophy of care revolves around the Latin phrase, Cura Personalis, which translates to ‘care for the entire person.’

“Sarcoma is a challenging type of cancer that needs a multidisciplinary approach involving many specialists, including medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and other disciplines. My goal is not to treat the diagnosis, but instead the whole person, trying to minimize suffering and help my patients maintain a sense of normalcy in their lives.

“When forming the best evidence-based treatment plan for my patients, I collaborate with sarcoma experts, both nationally and internationally, and consult the literature for treatment breakthroughs and clinical trials.

“I encourage open lines of communication so that my patients approach me with all of their questions and concerns. I feel honored when my patients truly feel that we are on the same team–together in this fight. We are not in a race, but a marathon, and I am with them every step of the way.”