Lawrence J Scharf, MD

From the onset of my medical career, my priority has been to provide high quality oncologic patient-focused care, individualizing treatment recommendations for my patients’ specific diagnoses, goals, lifestyles and psychosocial needs in an emotionally supportive environment.

Knowing that the diagnosis of cancer can be a life-changing and overwhelming moment in one’s life, I approach each new patient with a commitment to his well-being. The patient and his physician will embark on a journey which begins at diagnosis and continues through the many phases of treatment and subsequent follow-up.  Each patient’s response to the diagnosis of cancer is different and personal, as is his treatment plan.  Having been involved in the management of prostate cancer over the past three decades, I have participated in its many clinical and technologic advances.  Today we see improved outcomes with fewer side effects.  I use a multi-disciplinary approach to counsel patients regarding the various treatment options.  This enables the patient to best evaluate the many aspects of each treatment modality.”

Dr. Scharf is a board-certified radiation oncologist specializing in the treatment of prostate cancer as well as other types of genitourinary malignancies such as cancers of the testes, bladder and kidney.  His experience in the treatment of prostate cancer has included the use of BAT ultrasound-based IMRT/IGRT in the 1990s with its subsequent evolution to fiducial-based image guided intensity modulated radiation therapy in the past decade.  He also has extensive experience in prostate brachytherapy while previously practicing in Baltimore.

Dr. Scharf came to Fox Chase in 2011 after being in private practice for 18 years in Maryland and in Maine.  He served as president of Radiation Oncology Affiliates of Maryland, PA from 1996-2005. Prior to entering private practice in 1992, he spent 4 years in the USAF, assigned as a radiation oncologist at Travis AFB in northern California.  He received a Meritorious Service Award from the USAF in 1992 in recognition of his contribution to the advancement of oncology care.  He is a native Philadelphian and attended Lehigh University and The Medical College of Pennsylvania.  His internship and residency years were at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

He is a full-time Fox Chase Cancer Center consultant at Academic Urology's King of Prussia office.