Anirban Maitra is a physician-scientist and Director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he also serves as Associate Dean for Cancer Research and holds the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professorship of Pathology. For more than 25 years, his career has been devoted to improving outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer, with a research program centered on early detection, biomarker discovery, and cancer interception.

Dr. Maitra earned his medical degree (MBBS) from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, followed by residency and fellowship training in anatomic, pediatric, and molecular pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He completed fellowship training in gastrointestinal pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he subsequently joined the faculty of the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center and rose to professor of pathology and oncology. In 2013, he was recruited to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as the inaugural scientific director of the Sheikh Ahmed Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, where he later held the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Distinguished University Chair. He joined NYU Langone Health in August 2025 to co-direct the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center before being named Director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center in January 2026.

A prolific and widely cited researcher, Dr. Maitra has co-authored more than 500 peer-reviewed publications on the genetics, biology, and early detection of pancreatic cancer and its precursor lesions, and his laboratory pioneered a liquid biopsy approach for the non-invasive detection of pancreatic tumors. He has led or co-led multiple large, multi-institutional NIH- and foundation-funded initiatives, including consortia focused on KRAS-targeted therapies and cancer interception, and has mentored more than three dozen postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, many of whom now hold independent faculty positions worldwide. His work has been continuously supported by the National Cancer Institute along with foundations including Stand Up To Cancer, the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, Breakthrough Cancer, and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Career history
2026 – Present
Director, Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center; Associate Dean for Cancer Research. NYU Grossman School of Medicine
2025 – 2026
Co-Director, Gastrointestinal Cancer Center. NYU Langone Health
2013 – 2025
Professor of Pathology & Translational Molecular Pathology;
Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Distinguished University Chair;
Scientific Director, Sheikh Ahmed Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
2002 – 2013
Professor of Pathology & Oncology, Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Selected Honors
R. Lee Clark Prize for Excellence in Translational Cancer Research
Ruth Leff Siegel Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research
AACR Team Science Award