Amit Verma, M.D., an expert in blood cancer research, has been appointed chair of the department of oncology at Montefiore Einstein. Dr. Verma, who was selected after an extensive national search, has served as interim chair of the department since 2024.

Amit K. Verma, MD

Clinical Profile Faculty Profile

“I am honored to be appointed chair of this outstanding department,” said Dr. Verma. “I look forward to continue working with its talented scientists, clinicians, academic leaders, and students conducting vital research and providing exceptional treatment to our patients.” 

Dr. Verma currently serves as professor of oncology, of medicine, and of developmental & molecular biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and is the Susan Resnick Fisher Academic Chair in Brain Cancer Research, associate director for translational science for National Cancer Institute-designated Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC), and co-director of MECCC’s Blood Cancer Institute (BCI). He previously served as director of the department of oncology’s division of hemato-oncology 

A leader in the study and treatment of myeloid malignancies, such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid lymphoma (AML), Dr. Verma was part of the team that first defined stem cell alterations in MDS/AML. He also led research that discovered the key role of several signaling pathways that are critical to the development of MDS. These findings directly resulted in an FDA approved novel therapy for MDS. He also has led or co-led numerous clinical trials on treatments of a range of blood cancers and founded several biotech startups.

In his leadership roles in the division of hematology-oncology, MECCC, and BCI, he is directing the development of a new state-of-the-art on-site CAR T cell manufacturing center on the Moses campus.

Dr. Verma joined the faculty in 2005 as an assistant professor of medicine and of oncology. He has mentored dozens of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty and was honored with Einstein’s Julius Marmur Mentorship Award (recognizing Ph.D. student mentorship) and the Samuel Rosen Outstanding Preclinical Teaching Award. In recent years, he received Einstein’s Saul Korey Prize for Translational Medicine and Science and was a co-presenter of the Montefiore Einstein Presidential Lecture.

Dr. Verma received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, India, and completed his residency and fellowship at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. After a second fellowship in bone marrow transplant and research at Northwestern University, he became a physician at the Dallas VA Medical Center and then an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas before joining Montefiore Einstein.