University of Rochester physician-scientist at the forefront of geriatric care

When an older person has cancer in today’s world, the experience can be quite different from previous generations.

Patients today, aged 60 and older, are making choices based on their values and wishes and leveraging scientific advances. Hospital or home? Extending life versus living your best life? Oncology teams recognize that older adults can feel emotionally overwhelmed with a cancer diagnosis and they are exploring ways to focus on what patients want. Treatment decisions evolve from a shared discussion and not just what the doctor orders.

“It must come down to what matters most to older adults and to their health, and it has to be communicated to them in a way they can understand,” says Kah Poh “Melissa” Loh, MBBCh, BAO, MS,  associate professor of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, at the University of Rochester and Wilmot Cancer Institute.

“No matter what happens,” she says, “you want to make sure they have no regrets.”

As a young physician-scientist, Loh has built an impressive career around improving cancer care for people who could be her grandparents—or her great grandparents, as some people in her clinic are older than 90.

Her impact has resulted in several recent notable achievements:

• At an event on Oct. 3, the Cancer Support Community at Gilda’s Club Rochester will honor Loh with its Jacob Gitelman Award. Loh has close ties with the organization, serving on its medical advisory board and championing its support groups and free, uplifting wellness events, such as meditation and yoga.

• On the global stage, Loh was part of an esteemed international panel that presented guidelines in August of 2025, to doctors and policymakers on how oncologists can manage older adults with cancer in places with limited resources. Half of all cancer cases in the world occur in older adults in low- or middle-income countries, without the benefits of advanced services—and that number is expected to soar in an aging world.

JCO Global Oncology published the new guidelines, which she co-authored, suggesting tools and ways to tailor care to overcome geographical barriers, workplace shortages, and lack of knowledge about geriatric oncology.

• In 2026, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will induct Loh as a fellow, a significant professional achievement. AGS fellows represent a distinguished cohort of geriatrics experts recognized for a deep commitment to advancing high-quality, person-centered care for all older adults.

The Road from Malaysia to Rochester  

Loh’s perspective extends across the globe.

Born and raised in Malaysia, she attended college in England, medical school in Ireland, and did a student exchange program in Bahrain in the Middle East. She has close friends who’ve worked in Australia and Asia. She moved to the U.S. for a residency at Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts.

How did she end up at the University of Rochester for a fellowship in hematology/oncology and geriatrics?

“I came here because I wanted to work with an expert in cancer and aging and that was Supriya (Mohile, MD, a pioneer in geriatric oncology.),” Loh says. Mohile was the national lead author for the original geriatric oncology guidelines devised for clinicians in the U.S. She has mentored Loh for years, and they were part of a Wilmot team that built one of the largest geriatric hematology and oncology programs in the country in Rochester.

Loh joined the UR faculty in 2019 and stayed because of Wilmot, which she describes as “a really great bubble to be surrounded by. You can see where your next five steps are. People will support you because they value this kind of work.”

Her current research, as a member of Wilmot’s Cancer Prevention and Control program,  centers on using mobile apps to facilitate exercise at home for older adults to improve physical function, memory, and other symptoms during cancer treatment. Another project focuses on using telehealth for serious conversations with patients about illness, prognosis, and treatment. This type of research is relevant because Wilmot serves a 27-county area in western and central New York with a higher-than-average population of older adults, and a high cancer incidence rate.

Slowing Down and Navigating Complexity

Ironically, Loh wasn’t always comfortable with older adults.

As a child in Malaysia, she was raised by her mother and grandfather, a business executive with a strong personality. Like many teenagers, she was striving for independence and anxious to leave home to pursue a different life. In medical school, she says, her strength was in efficiency and quick, sharp decisions—but while caring for older adults, everything took longer because their health issues were more complex.

“I realized that I needed to get over it,” Loh says. “If I’m not comfortable with complexity and difficult situations, this is not just about treating older adults, it’s about life, right? Learning how to deal with that allowed me to be more resilient.”

With a little bit of age and experience, Loh says, she is a better doctor. She can now see things from her grandfather’s view — “without him, I would not be here” — and that helps her care for people who’ve already lived a full life and navigated the peaks and valleys of careers, family, health challenges, joy, and disappointment.

As she juggles a busy career while married to a fellow physician and raising two small children, Loh says she’s also found another new skill: “I learned how to listen and be patient.”