Anirban Maitra, Professor and Director

Brief Introduction

Dr. Maitra is the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Pathology at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, where he also serves as Director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center, NYU Langone Health (since February 1, 2026). Previously, Dr. Maitra was Professor of Pathology and Translational Molecular Pathology, and Scientific Director of the Sheikh Ahmed Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (August 2013-August 2025). Dr. Maitra is the Principal Investigator of an NCI-funded laboratory dedicated to pancreatic cancer research. Dr. Maitra is deeply committed towards identifying and implementing translational research opportunities in pancreatic cancer that can improve the survival of patients stricken with this disease, with a particular focus on early detection and cancer interception.

Specialty

• Pancreatic Cancer

Education

• Jul 2001 – Jun 2002: Fellowship, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, Maryland
• Jul 2000 – Jun 2001: Residency, Anatomic Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Dallas, Texas
• Jul 1999 – Jun 2000: Fellowship, Pediatric Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Dallas, Texas
• Jul 1998 – Jun 1999: Fellowship, Molecular Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Dallas, Texas
• Jul 1996 – Jun 1998: Residency, Anatomic Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Dallas, Texas
• Jan 1996: MBBS, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences; New Delhi, India

Experience

• 2026 - Present: Director, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States
• 2025 - Present: Professor of Pathology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States
• 2025 - Present: Associate Director of Translational Research, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York, New York, United States
• 2025 - Present: Co-Director, GI Cancer Center, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States
• 2013 - 2025: Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Distinguished University Chair, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States
• 2013 - 2025: Scientific Director, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, Houston, Texas, United States
• 2013 - 2025: Professor, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Pathology and Translational Molecular Pathology, Houston, Texas, United States
• 2010 - 2013: Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• 2006 - 2010: Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• 2003 - 2005: Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• 2002 - 2003: Instructor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Selected Publications

1. Chen Y, Ballarò R, Sans M, Thege FI, Zuo M, Dou R, Min J, Yip-Schneider M, Zhang J, Wu R, Irajizad E, Makino Y, Rajapakshe KI, Rudsari HK, Hurd MW, León-Letelier RA, Katayama H, Ostrin E, Vykoukal J, Dennison JB, Do KA, Hanash SM, Wolff RA, Guerrero PA, Kim M, Schmidt CM, Maitra A, Fahrmann JF. Long-chain sulfatide enrichment is an actionable metabolic vulnerability in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN)-associated pancreatic cancers. Gut. 2025 Sep 8;74(10):1638-1652.
2. Pei G, Min J, Rajapakshe KI, Branchi V, Liu Y, Selvanesan BC, Thege F, Sadeghian D, Zhang D, Cho KS, Chu Y, Dai E, Han G, Li M, Yee C, Takahashi K, Garg B, Tiriac H, Bernard V, Semaan A, Grem JL, Caffrey TC, Burks JK, Lowy AM, Aguirre AJ, Grandgenett PM, Hollingsworth MA, Guerrero PA, Wang L, Maitra A. Spatial mapping of transcriptomic plasticity in metastatic pancreatic cancer. Nature. 2025 Jun;642(8066):212-221.
3. Makino Y, Rajapakshe KI, Chellakkan Selvanesan B, Okumura T, Date K, Dutta P, Abou-Elkacem L, Sagara A, Min J, Sans M, Yee N, Siemann MJ, Enriquez J, Smith P, Bhattacharya P, Kim M, Dede M, Hart T, Maitra A, Thege FI. Metabolic reprogramming by mutant GNAS creates an actionable dependency in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas. Gut. 2024 Dec 10;74(1):75-88.
4. Sans M, Makino Y, Min J, Rajapakshe KI, Yip-Schneider M, Schmidt CM, Hurd MW, Burks JK, Gomez JA, Thege FI, Fahrmann JF, Wolff RA, Kim MP, Guerrero PA, Maitra A. Spatial Transcriptomics of Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms of the Pancreas Identifies NKX6-2 as a Driver of Gastric Differentiation and Indolent Biological Potential. Cancer Discov. 2023 Aug 4;13(8):1844-1861.
5. Liu Y, Sinjab A, Min J, Han G, Paradiso F, Zhang Y, Wang R, Pei G, Dai Y, Liu Y, Cho KS, Dai E, Basi A, Burks JK, Rajapakshe KI, Chu Y, Jiang J, Zhang D, Yan X, Guerrero PA, Serrano A, Li M, Hwang TH, Futreal A, Ajani JA, Solis Soto LM, Jazaeri AA, Kadara H, Maitra A, Wang L. Conserved spatial subtypes and cellular neighborhoods of cancer-associated fibroblasts revealed by single-cell spatial multi-omics. Cancer Cell. 2025 May 12;43(5):905-924.e6.
6. McAndrews KM, Paradiso F, Stalnecker CA, Chellakkan BS, Thege FI, Peng DH, Moreno Diaz BA, Sugimoto H, Patel SI, Mahadevan KK, Kirtley ML, Wills D, Sockwell AM, Fonseca ALF, Liu Y, Rajapakshe KI, Yee NG, Tran PT, Omar HA, Tedeschi A, Schischlik-Siegl F, Boghossian AS, Rees MG, Ronan MM, Roth JA, Rudolph D, Aichinger M, Ebner F, Artemov AV, Lipp J, Pisarsky L, Herrmann VL, Park J, Rippmann JF, Schaaf O, Chandler V, Williams M, Deckard CE, Wang L, Der CJ, Vellano C, Guerrero PA, Heffernan TP, Kalluri R, Maitra A. An allele-agnostic mutant-KRAS inhibitor suppresses tumor maintenance signals and reproprograms tumor immunity in pancreatic cancer. Sci Transl Med. 2025 Sep 3;17(814):eadt5511.
7. Lee JJ, Bernard V, Semaan A, Monberg ME, Huang J, Stephens BM, Lin D, Rajapakshe KI, Weston BR, Bhutani MS, Haymaker CL, Bernatchez C, Taniguchi CM, Maitra A, Guerrero PA. Elucidation of Tumor-Stromal Heterogeneity and the Ligand-Receptor Interactome by Single-Cell Transcriptomics in Real-world Pancreatic Cancer Biopsies. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Nov 1;27(21):5912-5921.
8. Monberg ME, Geiger H, Lee JJ, Sharma R, Semaan A, Bernard V, Wong J, Wang F, Liang S, Swartzlander DB, Stephens BM, Katz MHG, Chen K, Robine N, Guerrero PA, Maitra A. Occult polyclonality of preclinical pancreatic cancer models drives in vitro evolution. Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 25;13(1):3652.
9. Halbrook CJ, Lyssiotis CA, Pasca di Magliano M, Maitra A. Pancreatic cancer: Advances and challenges. Cell. 2023 Apr 13;186(8):1729-1754.
10. Ying H, Kimmelman AC, Bardeesy N, Kalluri R, Maitra A, DePinho RA. Genetics and biology of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Genes Dev. 2025 Jan 7;39(1-2):36-63.