Dr. Ishwaria Subbiah Named NYU Langone Cancer Care Director
NYU Langone Health
Dr. Ishwaria Subbiah joins NYU Langone Health as director of the Symptom Management Program for hematology and medical oncology at Perlmutter Cancer Center, effective November 1, 2026.
NYU Langone Health has appointed Dr. Ishwaria Subbiah as director of the Symptom Management Program for hematology and medical oncology at Perlmutter Cancer Center, effective November 1, 2026. She will also serve as an associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. A specialist in supportive and palliative care and integrative oncology, Dr. Subbiah will lead efforts to improve management of cancer treatment side effects, including pain, fatigue, nausea and neuropathy. She brings more than 16 years of patient care experience and previously held a faculty position at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her work includes clinical trials, technology-enabled symptom monitoring and programs designed to improve patients' quality of life during treatment.
National Leader in Cancer Symptom Management, Ishwaria Subbiah, MD, Joins Perlmutter Cancer Center
Dr. Ishwaria Subbiah will expand access to new treatment options while keeping quality of life at the center of care.
NYU Langone Health announced the appointment of Ishwaria Subbiah, MD, as director of the Symptom Management Program for hematology and medical oncology within the Supportive Oncology Program at Perlmutter Cancer Center and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, effective November 1.
Dr. Subbiah is a physician leader in supportive and palliative care and integrative oncology, specializing in symptom management and quality of life for patients with cancer. She works with patients to optimize quality of life through evidence-based approaches, including medications and behavioral and lifestyle changes to manage the side effects of cancer treatment.
"Ishwaria's deep experience in clinical trials and symptom management is valuable to the work we're doing at Perlmutter Cancer Center to translate scientific discoveries into individualized patient care," said Anirban Maitra, MD, director of Perlmutter Cancer Center. "As more people are living with cancer than ever before, ensuring that they have the highest quality of life is our utmost priority."
In her new role, Dr. Subbiah will be a leader in research efforts evaluating new approaches to reduce the burden of side effects so patients can live full lives. She will also contribute to the development, implementation, and continuous evaluation of evidence-based innovative clinical pathways for common side effects—including pain, fatigue, nausea, neuropathy, and other treatment toxicities—that impact patients' ability to receive and remain on cancer treatment, with the goal of informing approaches that minimize these effects.
"I was struck by how committed NYU Langone's team is to getting things done at a steady pace and with a sense of purpose. It sets the institution apart in academia and healthcare as a whole," said Dr. Subbiah. "That same momentum, backed by strong leadership, allows us to turn innovation into action and pair cutting-edge treatments with holistic supportive care to deliver a truly person-centered cancer care experience."
Dr. Subbiah brings over 16 years of experience in direct patient care, along with progressive scientific and leadership responsibilities building enterprise-wide programs for in-treatment toxicity management, whole-person symptom optimization, clinical trial access, and workforce well-being.
"Symptom management is so personal and specific to each person's type of cancer. Ishwaria will help foster our efforts in providing care with empathy and respect for every patient and their loved ones," 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. "Our mission is to treat the patient, not their disease, and she embodies that mission."
About Dr. Subbiah
Prior to joining NYU Langone, Dr. Subbiah was an associate professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she provided comprehensive symptom management care for patients with cancer. She led research initiatives examining the barriers to clinical trial participation among older adults and the physical and psychosocial burden of symptoms. Dr. Subbiah spearheaded the launch of the electronic-health-record-integrated remote symptom monitoring program, which manages more than 50,000 monthly patient interactions. She then pivoted to community oncology, gaining immersive experience operationalizing evidence-based programs and patient access in real-world settings. Among other achievements, she developed a clinical trial access strategy and a supportive and palliative care implementation road map for a national network serving more than 1.4 million patients across more than 2,700 providers.
Dr. Subbiah chairs the Health Services Research Committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), serves on ASCO's Supportive Care Guidelines Advisory Group and the European Society for Medical Oncology's Digital Education Committee, and is past chair of ASCO's State of Cancer Care in America initiative.
She designed, secured external funding for, and implemented prospective trials studying the impact of technology-enabled programs on patient symptom burden and the likelihood of clinical trial participation. She served as principal investigator, co-investigator, or collaborator on more than 50 clinical trials and as lead or co-author on 78 publications, including 73 peer-reviewed original research articles on treatment, patient outcomes, and well-being.
Dr. Subbiah also led several multisite, multi-investigator grant submissions to external funders and secured multiyear, peer-reviewed funding from the American Cancer Society, the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, the Hope Foundation, and Gabrielle's Angel Foundation.
Source: NYU Langone Health
