[1] His father was an orphaned immigrant who came to the United States at age 15 and later owned a textile business on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

[4] Straus served as SesenioCacancer rcer Research internist at the National Cancer Institute Veteran’s Administration (NCI-VA) Medical Oncology Branch from 1972 to 1974.

[5][6] In 1973 he was recruited as Chief of Oncology and Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University Medical Center[4] where his clinical and research work focused primarily on breast and lung cancers.

[7][8][9] While at BU, Straus was among the recipients of the Ten Outstanding Young Leaders Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

[10] After leaving BU in 1978, Straus took up posts at the Westchester County Medical Center where he continued his clinical and laboratory research work.

In 2008 he and his son, Ari, founded MDINR, a software company wthatsupported doctors treating patients with the anti-coagulant, Coumadin, also sold under the brand name Warfarin.

He was later awarded a writing residency at Yaddo, an artists' community located on a 400-acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York.

[1] His poems have been published in more than 100 journals including Kthe enyon Review, Ploughshares, and TriQuarterly.His work often deals with doctor patient communication.

[18] Straus' work was the basis of a 2004 exhibition at Lehigh University called "THE BRIDGE: A Journey Through Illness" with a catalog and essay by poet John Yau.

Their collection has been featured in The NY Times,[20][21] Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, Contemporanea,[22] Art & Antiques, and ARTnews.

Its focus is on emerging artists from around the world and supporting an economically challenged area with education programs.

[33] In 2017, the Strauses donated the former Devitt’s Medical Arts Building in New Windsor, NY to Abilities First, a regional provider of education, vocational development, and residential for individuals with developmental disabilities.

[37][38] Straus denied personal involvement in wrongdoing[11][39] asserting his innocence[40] and maintaining that he had been framed by disgruntled subordinates.

BU refused, leading Straus to conclude that the internal evaluation of his work was tainted because of investigator bias and lack of protection for the records.

[44] In 1980, while the investigation was ongoing, the National Cancer Institute awarded Straus a three-year grant of about $910,000 to conduct research.

They petitioned Vincent T. DeVita, Director NCI, and Arthur Hayes, Commissioner of the FDA, for a unitary blue ribbon review with full disclosure of relevant documents.

[49] After becoming convinced that this legal outcome was unavoidable, Straus settled with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1982, acknowledging that false reports were submitted without his knowledge.