Ulrich Steidl, M.D., Ph.D.
Ulrich Steidl, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in cancer and stem cell biology, has been named the chair of the department of cell biology at Einstein. Dr. Steidl assumed his new position in November 2022 when Arthur Skoultchi, Ph.D., who had led the department with distinction for 24 years, stepped down from departmental leadership.
Dr. Steidl is a professor of cell biology, of oncology, and of medicine; interim director of the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine; and the Edward P. Evans Endowed Professor for Myelodysplastic Syndromes at Einstein. He is also the deputy director of Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center (MECC) and co-director of MECC’s Blood Cancer Institute.
Investigations led by Dr. Steidl have made key contributions to the understanding of myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia, two related blood diseases that he helped characterize as being driven by diverse pools of precancer and cancer stem cells. This work has led to the discovery, study, and therapeutic targeting of such disease-driving stem cells in blood cancers, resulting in pioneering scientific progress as well as innovative clinical trials. His contributions to the field were recognized by the National Cancer Institute when he received its Outstanding Investigator Award in 2021.
Since joining Einstein’s faculty in 2008, Dr. Steidl has received numerous awards. His translational research accomplishments were recognized at Einstein’s commencement ceremony in 2020, when he received the Saul R. Korey Award in Translational Science and Medicine. On multiple occasions—in 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2020—he received Einstein’s Julius Marmur Award for Outstanding Mentoring in Graduate Research.
Dr. Steidl has previously received the Scholar Achievement Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the National Institute of Health’s Howard Temin Award, and he is currently the president of the International Society for Experimental Hematology.
Before joining Einstein as an assistant professor in 2008, Dr. Steidl received his M.D./Ph.D. degree from the Heidelberg University School of Medicine and the German Cancer Research Center, both in Heidelberg, Germany, and trained at the Heinrich Heine University Medical Center in Dusseldorf, Germany, as well as at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
