
Vivek Subbiah, M.D.
Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Subbiah
Vivek Subbiah, M.D., is an associate professor in the Investigational Cancer Therapeutics department (a Phase 1 program). He is the Center Clinical Medical Director of the Clinical Center for Targeted Therapy, Cancer Medicine division, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
After completing his medical school in India at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, India he completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University, MetroHealth, Cleveland Ohio. Dr. Subbiah has a unique training background as he is one of the few physicians in the nation/world to have training in oncology in both adults and children. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and has completed fellowships in both adult and pediatric oncology at MD Anderson.
Dr. Vivek Subbiah is a clinical trialist and Physician Investigator in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at MD Anderson, which is the largest oncology drug development unit in the world. He is primarily involved in translational cancer research and the design and conduct of early-phase biomarker-driven clinical trials, with a specialist interest in anti-body drug conjugates, radio-pharmaceuticals, immunoconjugates and basket trials. Dr. Subbiah serves as the Principal Investigator in numerous trials, certainly leaving an accomplished impression on the national and international drug development community. Dr. Subbiah has skillfully led the MD Anderson effort on the international Vemurafenib Basket Trial in non-melanoma BRAF V600-mutated cancers, which pioneered a novel histology-independent clinical trial design. Vemurafenib was FDA approved in Erdheim-Chester disease based on this trial. Dabrafenib and trametinib was U.S. FDA-approved in the treatment of BRAF V600-mutant anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) based on practice changing data from the Rare Oncology Agnostic Approach (ROAR) trial lead by Dr. Subbiah. Furthermore, his novel investigator-initiated trials have also laid the foundation for therapeutic breakthroughs for additional rare cancers. Specifically, his clinical trial for Radium-223 as a treatment for relapsed osteosarcoma was singularly responsible for the inclusion of this radiopharmaceutical in the treatment algorithm of osteosarcoma in the guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).
Dr. Subbiah is a major advocate for precision oncology. His national leadership roles continue to expand as the National PI for the BRAF non-V600 alteration arm of the NCI-MATCH Precision Medicine Clinical Trial. His trial portfolio includes trials that target BRAF, MEK, RET, CDK, WNT, VEGF,mTOR, EZH2-EED pathways, novel immunotherapy combination trials GITR, TLR7/9, PD1, WT1, several first-in-human antibody drug conjugates, oncolytic viruses, intra-tumoral therapies and radiopharmaceuticals. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed in several prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research, and Lancet Oncology.
In the News

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Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Executive Medical Director, Department of Medical Oncology Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center Network, Houston, TX
Research Interests
1. Developmental therapeutics, First-in-human Phase 1 trials ( Targeted therapy, Immunotherapy, Anti-body drug conjugates, Radiopharmaceutical therapy, and Oncolytic viruses)
2. Basket trials and Precision Oncology
3. Clinical Trials in rare diseases ( eg, Sarcomas, NF2, BRAF, RET)
4. Unusual Responder interest: Dramatic Responses in Cancer patients. N–of-ONE studies. In depth analysis by deep sequencing, proteomics, next generation sequencing and other cutting edge methods for analysis of response/ resistance mechanisms.
5. Adolescent and Young adult oncology
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
2002 | Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Chennai, IND, MBBS, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery |
Postgraduate Training
2011-2012 | Clinical Fellowship, Adult Medical Oncology Fellowship, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
2009-2011 | Research Fellowship, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
2008-2011 | Clinical Fellowship, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
2005-2008 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Combined Residency, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH |
2004-2005 | Clinical Internship, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Combined Internship, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (Metrohealth Medical Center), Cleveland, OH |
2003-2003 | Visiting Scholar, Emergency Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Division of Emergency Medicine, Palo Alto, CA |
2001-2002 | Clinical Internship, Medicine and Surgery, Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Chennai |
Board Certifications
2011 | Diplomate of American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) |
2008 | Diplomate of American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) |
2004 | Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) |
Experience & Service
Institutional Committee Activities
Committee Member, Faculty Academic Review Committee (FARC), 2014 - 2017
Honors & Awards
2012 | The Connie and Jim Walter Fellowship in Sarcoma Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
2010 | The 2010 Daniel Benedict Gazen Fellowship Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
2010 | Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc, First Place in Population/Patient Oriented Research |
2010 | Best Survivorship Poster Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
2009 | Trainee of the Quarter Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
2008 | Research Excellence Award, Case Western Reserve University |
2008 | Trainee Travel Award, Thrombosis Society |
2006 | Best Case Presentation, Med West Med-Peds Meeting |
2004 | Pfizer Research Excellence Award, Great Lakes Research Symposium |
2000 | Oral Presentation in World Health Organization |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Subbiah V, Meyer C, Zinner R, Meric-Bernstam F, Zahurak ML, O'Connor A, Roszik J, Shaw K, Ludwig JA, Kurzrock R, Azad NA. Phase Ib/II study of safety & efficacy of combination therapy with multikinase VEGF inhibitor Pazopanib and MEK inhibitor Trametinib in advanced soft tissue sarcoma. Clin Cancer Res 23(15):4027-4034, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28377484.
- Groisberg R, Hong DS, Holla V, Janku F, Piha-Paul S, Ravi V, Benjamin R, Kumar Patel S, Somaiah N, Conley A, Ali SM, Schrock AB, Ross JS, Stephens PJ, Miller VA, Sen S, Herzog C, Meric-Bernstam F, Subbiah V. Clinical genomic profiling to identify actionable alterations for investigational therapies in patients with diverse sarcomas. Oncotarget 8(24):39254-39267, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28424409.
- Wang Z, Piha-Paul S, Janku F, Subbiah V, Shi N, Gong J, Wathoo C, Shaw K, Hess K, Broaddus R, Naing A, Hong D, Tsimberidou AM, Karp D, Yao J, Meric-Bernstam F, Fu S. Antiangiogenesis and gene aberration-related therapy may improve overall survival in patients with concurrent KRAS and TP53 hotspot mutant cancer. Oncotarget 8(20):33796-33806, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28430579.
- Shroff RT, Yarchoan M, O'Connor A, Gallagher D, Zahurak ML, Rosner G, Ohaji C, Sartorius-Mergenthaler S, Subbiah V, Zinner R, Azad NS. The oral VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor pazopanib in combination with the MEK inhibitor trametinib in advanced cholangiocarcinoma. Br J Cancer 116(11):1402-1407, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28441383.
- Kairemo K, Ravizzini GC, Macapinlac HA, Subbiah V. An Assessment of Early Response to Targeted Therapy via Molecular Imaging: A Pilot Study of 3'-deoxy-3'[(18)F]-Fluorothymidine Positron Emission Tomography (18)F-FLT PET/CT in Prostate Adenocarcinoma. Diagnostics (Basel) 7(2), 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28375169.
- Subbiah V, Khawaja MR, Hong DS, Amini B, Yungfang J, Liu H, Johnson A, Schrock AB, Ali SM, Sun JX, Fabrizio D, Piha-Paul S, Fu S, Tsimberidou AM, Naing A, Janku F, Karp DD, Overman M, Eng C, Kopetz S, Meric-Bernstam F, Falchook GS. First-in-human trial of multikinase VEGF inhibitor regorafenib and anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab in advanced cancer patients. JCI Insight 2(8). e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28422758.
- Reilley MJ, Bailey A, Subbiah V, Janku F, Naing A, Falchook G, Karp D, Piha-Paul S, Tsimberidou A, Fu S, Lim J, Bean S, Bass A, Montez S, Vence L, Sharma P, Allison J, Meric-Bernstam F, Hong DS. Phase I clinical trial of combination imatinib and ipilimumab in patients with advanced malignancies. J Immunother Cancer 5:35, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28428884.
Abstracts
- Groisberg R, Subbiah V, Hong DS, Janku F, Piha-Paul SA, Naing A, Benjamin R, Kumar Putal S, Somaiah N, Conley A. Characteristics and outcomes of patients with advanced sarcoma enrolled in early phase immunotherapy trials. 2017 AACR Annual Meeting 77(19), 2017.
- Subbiah IM, Hess KR, Fujii T, Alshawa A, Lui A, Roy S, Khanji R, Subbiah V, Naing A, Hong DS. Immuno-oncology and the elderly: A comparative analysis of participation and toxicities of senior adults aged 65 years and above vs mid age and adolescent/young adult patients on immunotherapy-based phase I clinical trials. 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting, J Clin Oncol 35(15), 2017.
- . IM Subbiah, V Subbiah, AO Kaseb, F Janku, JJ Wheler, A Naing, S Fu, SA Piha-Paul, DS Hong, GS Falchook, AM Tsimberidou, R Kurzrock. Characteristics and outcomes of patients with gallbladder cancer and cholangiocarcinoma referred to a phase I clinic, 2012.