Amer Assal, MD

I am pleased to join the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2023. I am a board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist who specializes in the use of cellular therapy for the treatment of blood cancers and other blood disorders. Blood cancers include multiple myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndromes and other bone marrow disorders. I specialize in cellular therapies which includes autologous and allogeneic bone marrow stem cell transplantation as well as chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T-cell). 

My medical training began at New York University School of Medicine where I attended medical school and completed a residency in internal medicine. I completed a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where I also served as chief fellow. Finally, I completed a fellowship in blood and marrow stem cell transplantation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

My research interests center around improving outcomes of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy while making them safer with less side effects. I have a particular interest in immunotherapy and studying ways to harness the immune system to attack tumor cells, while at the same time decreasing the risk of graft versus host disease and other complications. 

During my time working at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and now at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, my approach to medicine is to understand the patient as a whole. We all have lives, family obligations, and other challenges and I like to think of myself as a coach who will guide the patient and support them throughout their treatment journey.