Executive Leadership

In March 2016, Dr. Zinner became the Founding CEO and Executive Medical Director of Miami Cancer Institute, a member of the Baptist Health South Florida Health System. Prior to that Dr. Zinner was the Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, the Surgeon-in-Chief at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), the Clinical Director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and the Crowley Family Distinguished Chair in the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 1994-2016.

He has been a member of the editorial boards of several surgical journals, including Annals of Surgery, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery and the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. He is the past and current Editor for “Maingot’s Abdominal Operations”, a worldwide textbook and atlas of gastrointestinal surgery in its 4th Edition under his editorship.

Dr. Zinner is a past President of the Association for Academic Surgery, past President of the Society of the University Surgeons, and past President of the Society of Surgical Chairman. He has previously served as a Director of the American Board of Surgery, a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and a member of the Board of Directors of Collegium Internationale Chirurgiac Digestivae. In 2008, he received the National Award for the Advancement of Women in Surgery from the Association of Women Surgeons (AWS). He was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) from 2008 to 2010 and was Chairman of the Board of Regents of the College from 2016-2017.

In 2004, he established the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a collaboration between the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, focused on healthcare, quality, safety and effectiveness and global surgical care. His current interests include these areas and the national debate on health care reform. He is active in local, regional and national organizations on health care policies, and was Chairman of the Health Policy and Advocacy Committee for the American College of Surgeons. He has taught courses on health care at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and was appointed Adjunct Professor there. He has been on the Boards of several hospitals and health care systems across the country, including Partners Health Care and the Sisters of Mercy Health Care System. In addition, he is on the Board of several medical device and software companies, and the National Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.

Dr. Zinner remains a clinician and his clinical focus centers on surgical oncology and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. He enjoys his practice and interactions with junior staff, trainees, and has received teaching and mentorship awards for both. At the Miami Cancer Institute, over the past 24 months, he has recruited 60 new physicians to MCI from all across the country. Many of these physicians have come from named institutions including, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Dana Farber, Yale, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, University of Chicago, Boston University and more.

Dr. Kalman, after finishing his medical oncology training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, came to Miami in 1982 and began his practice as the 4th member of a medical oncology practice founded by Dr. Martin Liebling. Over the years, he grew the practice, Advanced Medical Specialties (AMS), to one of the largest in the country, including 47 medical, radiation, and pediatric oncologists through Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

With the emergence of Miami Cancer Institute (MCI), all the physicians and personnel of AMS who practiced at Baptist facilities became employees of Baptist Health in December 2014. These “legacy” physicians formed the basis of the initial medical, radiation, and pediatric oncology staff at Miami Cancer Institute.

In September 2014, Dr. Kalman assumed the role of Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Institute, where he, with others, defined the overall mission and vision of the Institute, defined its component parts and multi-disciplinary care model, and began the recruitment of key leadership, faculty and staff. At present, Dr. Kalman serves as Executive Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer, a role in which he continues to work closely with the leadership team of MCI to lead recruitment efforts, to create new programs and services and to deal with medical staff issues.

Dr. Mehta is an internationally renowned radiation oncologist, one of the world’s experts in the treatment of brain tumors, and a pioneer in the fields of radiosurgery, intensity-modulated image-guided radiotherapy, MR-Linac based radiotherapy, and pencil-beam scanning proton therapy. He has previously served as the Chair and Professor of Human Oncology at the University of Wisconsin, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Northwestern University, and the University of Maryland, where served as Professor of Radiation Oncology and Director of the Proton Therapy Center.

Dr. Mehta provides overall leadership and direction to the entire Radiation Oncology Division, including our unique Proton Therapy Center; mentors junior mid-career colleagues; develops and directs a far ranging clinical trials program in radiation oncology, including clinical trials evaluating the increasing importance of proton therapy in an expanding number of cancers, and remains clinically active, caring for patients with brain tumors and lung cancer.

As Deputy Director, he has a significant role in the operational and clinical development of and integration of all radiation modalities within Miami Cancer Institute, and also in future strategic planning for the organization. Because of his vast experience, he remains a key liaison with national radiation and proton organizations, with our academic alliance partner Memorial Sloan Kettering, with Baptist International and Baptist Finance, and with potential partners in the radiation oncology industry.

An internationally renowned expert in the application of both autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, multiple myeloma and other lymphoproliferative diseases, Guenther Koehne, M.D., Ph.D., serves as deputy director and chief of Stem Cell Transplantation, Hematologic Oncology and Benign Hematology at Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida. Prior to joining the Institute in 2017, he was a leading physician in adult bone marrow transplantation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Koehne is recognized for his work in adoptive immunotherapeutic approaches with antigen-specific, donor-derived T lymphocytes to treat viral complications following allogeneic transplants and the development of novel treatments for high-risk multiple myeloma, minimal residual disease of leukemia and relapsed disease post-allogeneic stem cell transplantation. A physician-scientist, Dr. Koehne has led the development and growth of the Institute’s outpatient and inpatient blood and bone marrow transplant program and is involved in numerous groundbreaking clinical trials.

Dr. Koehne is Board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. He received his medical degree and Ph.D. from Medical University of Hamburg, Germany, where he also trained as a resident in internal medicine. He completed an additional internal medicine residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. His extensive training also includes a medical oncology/hematology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a research fellowship in the Immunology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation Service.

Dr. Koehne is a member of the American Society of Hematology, American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He champions the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and has served as Chairman of the Light the Night Walk, the organization’s largest fundraiser.

Board-certified neuro-oncologist and medical oncologist Manmeet Ahluwalia, M.D., FACP, M.B.A., is deputy director, chief scientific officer and chief of solid tumor medical oncology at Miami Cancer Institute. Board-certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, neuro-oncology and hematology, Dr. Ahluwalia is a leading expert in brain metastases and primary brain tumors.

Dr. Ahluwalia joins Miami Cancer Institute from the Cleveland Clinic, where he was the Dean and Diane Miller Family Endowed Chair in Neuro-Oncology and the head of operations in the Rose Ella Burkhardt Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center (BBTC). He also served as a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Ahluwalia’s research focuses on the development of new therapies for patients with brain tumors and brain metastases. He is an internationally recognized clinical investigator with deep ties in both the established and start-up pharmaceutical community, both of which have led to his role as principal investigator on many multi-site national and international studies involving many solid tumor types. His research has been presented nationally and internationally and has resulted in over 200 manuscripts, editorials and book chapters.

Dr. Ahluwalia has served in multiple leadership positions in professional societies and serves in editorial capacities for several journals. He has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, such as the National Cancer Institute/ CTEP Career Development Award for Clinical Trial in American Brain Tumor Consortium (ABTC), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Leadership Development Program award, Crain’s 40 Under 40 award and has been nominated to the Leading in Healthcare, Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Ahluwalia earned his medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi. He completed his internal medicine residency at Cleveland Clinic Health System and hematology/oncology fellowship at Roswell Park Center Institute. In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Ahluwalia holds a Master of Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.

He is fluent in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

Esteemed nurse and healthcare leader Vicki Caraway, R.N., BSN, MBA, NE-BC, has been appointed chief nursing officer of Baptist Health Cancer Care, where she will oversee all nursing functions at Miami Cancer Institute and Lynn Cancer Institute.

Ms. Caraway has more than 32 years of oncology nursing experience. Most recently, she was vice president of Nursing Research and Care Management at Florida Cancer Specialists (FCS) and American Oncology Network, sister companies. While there, she established the first FCS-wide genetic counseling program and the first FCS palliative/support care program.

Previously she spent 28 years at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where she served in many leadership roles, heading strategic organizational-wide initiatives in nursing, revenue cycle, operations and research. She also oversaw the planning, construction and opening of Moffitt’s 207,000-square-foot outpatient satellite facility on the McKinley Campus. Ms. Caraway began her nursing career in Athens, Georgia, where she cared for patients in the surgical and neuro units. She earned her BSN in nursing from the University of Tampa and her MBA from St. Leo University.

At Miami Cancer Institute, Ms. Caraway’s responsibilities will include overseeing all nursing functions, and assuring safety, quality, and high patient and staff satisfaction, as well as nursing excellence.

With an interest in nursing mentorship and palliative and supportive care, Ms. Caraway is a member of the Florida Palliative Care Coalition and winner of the 2018 Diversity Award. She is active in numerous professional committees and enjoys volunteering, spending time with her husband, John, and their family, traveling, antiquing and home renovations.

Scott Lipkin, DPM, has been appointed as Vice President and Chief Research Officer for Baptist Health South Florida. Dr. Lipkin is responsible for the oversight and executive management of the organization’s research enterprise, including financial administration, grant management, protocol development, human subject protections/IRB and compliance.

In addition to his new role, Dr. Lipkin will continue as chief research officer for Miami Cancer Institute, under the leadership of Michael Zinner, M.D., CEO of the Institute. In this role, he is responsible for the executive management of Miami Cancer Institute’s research program, including clinical operations, research administration, biorepository, academic affiliations, Institutional Review Board and compliance.

Dr. Lipkin earned his doctorate of podiatric medicine from the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine. He then completed his podiatric surgery residency and served as chief resident at St. Mary Hospital in Philadelphia.

He began his career on the medical staff of the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). He was also chief of the Division of Podiatric Surgery for 10 years. He began participating in clinical research early in his career, serving as the principal or sub-investigator on numerous clinical trials related to diabetic foot wounds and wound healing.

Dr. Lipkin began taking on research positions while maintaining his clinical practice. He chaired LVHN’s institutional review board and led the organization through national accreditation. He then began serving on national panels and councils that focused on research ethics, patient safety and research compliance.

His dedication to the operational and compliance side of the clinical research continuum led him to accept a full-time role in administration in 2010. He served as the chief of the Network Office of Research & Innovation, where he created a centralized research office. In 2014, he transitioned to research consulting.

Dr. Lipkin joined Miami Cancer Institute from Ankura Consulting, where he served as the managing director of the clinical research and compliance practice. In this role, he provided research- and compliance-related advisory services to academic medical centers, cancer centers, children’s hospitals and large health systems throughout the United States.

Dr. Lipkin serves as an adjunct instructor at the Loyola University School of Law, is a member of the Council for Certification of IRB Professionals, and is a frequent presenter at professional events and conferences throughout the country.

With financial operations leadership for healthcare since 1987, Maggy is VP, Business Operations for Miami Cancer Institute. Maggy participated in the acquisition by Baptist Health South Florida of Advanced Medical Specialties (AMS), a 23 physician oncology practice. Maggy is responsible for the business operations of Miami Cancer Institute, including clinic management and front end revenue cycle management, as well as dining and gift shop services.

Historically, Maggy’s financial career began in Miami in 1983 as a Staff Accountant at a private accounting firm. From 1984 through 1987, she worked with the global accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand in the Audit Staff and Emerging Business Services departments. With Coopers & Lybrand, she provided financial leadership to a diversity of business sectors including health care, construction, floral products, interior design, architecture, banking, security system and cruise lines. Since 1987, she has specialized in healthcare. Most recently, Maggy served as Executive Director for AMS.

Maggy served ten years as a Board Member and Community Ambassador for the nationally recognized Cancer Support Community, a nonprofit organization providing support, education and hope to individuals dealing with cancer. She’s also a long-time volunteer with the Kendall Relay for Life Event, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients and their families.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Maggy’s interests include the performing arts and fine arts with a special affinity for works by Cuban artists. She also enjoys the culinary arts and experiencing diverse cultures and destinations through world travel.

Steve has over 22 years of progressive leadership experience at Baptist Health with a diverse Clinical / operational background. Steve started his career at Baptist Hospital in 1999 after serving 6 years active Duty in the US Navy, as a Hospital Corpsman. Steve was originally hired as a staff member in the EEG Department. He then started his leadership journey and was integral in the beginning development stages of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence, now known as the Miami Neuroscience Institute. During his time at the Neuroscience Center, Steve worked on multiple projected aimed at transitioning the EEG department to a full service Neurophysiology Department, and lead integration efforts across Baptist Health to standardize neurophysiology technology, and policy and procedures. Steve also, served as the Interim Surgery Director, where he assisted in the BHM Surgery expansion project adding 6 additional operating rooms to the existing 18, including an intraoperative MRI (iMRIS), Intraoperative CT Scanner, and the newest Da Vinci Robot SI. Steve then transitioned back to Neurosciences as the Director of Operations where he worked to refine or develop Neuroscience services lines such as Stroke, Movement Disorders, and a level 4 Epilepsy Center. 

Steve was than selected to join the inaugural executive team as the AVP of Clinical Operations at the Miami Cancer Institute. In his role, with the assistance of an amazing team, led several complex projects and operationalized many new service lines / capabilities throughout MCI. Steve and team managed over 60 construction modifications / growth projects shortly after MCI opened our doors, achieved CAP Accreditation in Clinical Lab, Breast Imaging Center of Excellence (BICOE) and Diagnostic Center of Excellence (DICOE) Accreditation. Steve then transitioned to the AVP of Clinical Operation in Radiation Oncology, which also experienced tremendous service line growth with the assistance of another amazing team, to include the operatilization of Plantation’s Radiation Oncology Center, and additional service lines locally, such as a superficial radiotherapy program and additional brachytherapy capabilities. Due to Steve’s experience, he inherently assisted with the Medical / Surgical Oncology and Infusion space at MCI Plantation to liaison with BOS Diagnostic Imaging, and the Ambulatory Surgery Center to provide support during MCI at Plantation’s opening. Steve recently received new initiative approval to build the 2^nd Radiation Oncology Vault in Plantation as well as approval to install a 2^nd CT Scanner to support Radiation Oncology’s CT Simulation needs. Steve is also currently working across MCI on the design and development of proposed Women’s Medical Art’s Building as well as other development projects in our local market. 

At the entity level, Steve serves as the executive sponsor for employee engagement and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Steve’s also serves on BHSF’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and is the system Chair for the Veteran Business Resource Group.