Perlmutter Cancer Center Taps Vivek Subbiah, MD, to Lead Early-Phase Drug Development and Rare Cancer Programs

The physician-scientist helped advance landmark tumor-agnostic therapies that target cancer's genetic drivers.

NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NYU Langone Health today announced the appointment of Vivek Subbiah, MD, as director of the Early-Phase Drug Development Program and the Rare Cancer Program at NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center, effective November 1. He will also serve as professor in the Department of Medicine's Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Dr. Subbiah is a medical oncologist and early-phase clinical trialist with dual training in both adult and pediatric oncology and more than 15 years of leadership experience in oncology drug development and precision medicine. He has led more than 200 clinical trials and contributed to the development of 12 drugs that subsequently received approval from the Food and Drug Administration. His work includes advancing landmark tumor-agnostic therapies targeting BRAF and RET genetic alternations, which enable treatment decisions based on the molecular characteristics of cancer rather than solely where it originated.

"It's wonderful to welcome Vivek to NYU Langone at such an exciting time in oncology. I've seen firsthand the expertise and perspective he brings to early-phase clinical trials, rare cancers, and precision oncology," said Anirban Maitra, MD, director of Perlmutter Cancer Center. "He will bring tremendous energy and experience to our team."

"What drew me to Perlmutter Cancer Center was how quickly the team moves to advance new treatments. Cancer is deeply personal, and my goal is to get promising therapies to patients as quickly and safely as possible," said Dr. Subbiah.

In his new roles, Dr. Subbiah will work across specialties to translate scientific discoveries into new treatment options and expand access to early-phase clinical trials. The Rare Cancer Program will collaborate with experts in NYU Langone's Center for Molecular Oncology, to characterize tumors at the molecular level and identify potential treatment approaches tailored to each patient. This work is particularly important for people with rare cancers, who may have fewer established treatment options.

"The future of cancer care lies in reading each patient's biomarkers at the gene and molecular level—rather than defining a cancer only by where it started—and then tailoring treatment to their specific type of cancer," said Dr. Subbiah.

A leader in precision oncology and drug development, Dr. Subbiah has championed biomarker-driven clinical trials, tumor-agnostic drug development, and combination therapies designed to target cancer more effectively. That philosophy has shaped his work on protocol design, go/no-go decision frameworks, and precision oncology pathways around the world. He also focuses on the application of artificial intelligence to patient care, research, and clinical trials and lectures widely on the subject.

"Vivek brings an exceptional combination of expertise in early-phase clinical trials and rare cancers," said John P. Leonard, MD, chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and chief clinical officer for enterprise cancer strategy and operations at Perlmutter Cancer Center. "By helping bring new treatments into the clinic, he is offering new options to patients with the potential to improve outcomes."

About Dr. Subbiah

Before joining NYU Langone, Dr. Subbiah served as the Jeffrey and Christina Bird Endowed Chair and professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, associate director for drug development and precision oncology at the Stanford Cancer Institute, and executive medical director for novel therapies and clinical trial network development at Stanford Health Care.

Previously, he spent nearly 15 years at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he served as center medical director of the early-phase clinical trials program and executive medical director of medical oncology research for the MD Anderson Cancer Network. He later served as chief of early-phase drug development at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, overseeing nine drug development units across the United States and United Kingdom and collaborating with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on early-phase clinical research.

Dr. Subbiah has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed publications in journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, and Cancer Discovery. He is also the host of the JAMA Oncology podcast, a frequent keynote speaker on precision oncology and drug development, and a mentor to more than 100 early-career oncologists and physician-scientists.

About NYU Langone Health 

NYU Langone Health is a fully integrated health system that consistently achieves the best patient outcomes through a rigorous focus on quality that has resulted in some of the lowest mortality rates in the nation. Vizient Inc. has ranked NYU Langone No. 1 out of 122 comprehensive academic medical centers across the nation five years in a row, and it continues to have the most No. 1– and top 10–ranked specialties among medical centers in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. NYU Langone offers a comprehensive range of medical services with one high standard of care across seven inpatient locations, its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and more than 400 outpatient locations in the New York City area and Florida. The system also includes two tuition-free medical schools, in Manhattan and on Long Island, and a vast research enterprise.

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SOURCE NYU Langone Health