Ruben Mesa, M.D.

Dr. Ruben Mesa is the executive director of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of only four National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers in Texas. For almost 30 years the cancer center has had a deep focus on providing world-class cancer care, advancing cancer research and educating the next generation of cancer care scientists and care providers.

Dr. Mesa’s practice builds on his role as an international expert on myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), a group of bone marrow disorders that often lead to leukemia. He has been involved in MPN research for more than 20 years. He led the development of National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s panel guidelines, the first U.S. guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia. Dr. Mesa has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator of more than 70 clinical trials. He co-led the research team leading to the FDA’s approval of ruxolitinib for polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis. He is currently leading the investigation of several other drugs for these types of cancers. Dr. Mesa was elected to sit on the National Board of Directors for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and sits on the board of the MPN Education Foundation.

After earning degrees in nuclear engineering and physiology, with minors in radiation biophysics and bioengineering, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Mesa received his medical degree from the Mayo Graduate School at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He completed his residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in hematology/medical oncology at Mayo. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in hematology and medical oncology.