Alex Ambinder, MD, MPH
Hematologic Malignancy
Highlights
Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Alex Ambinder
Primary Academic Title
Assistant Professor of Oncology
Background
Dr. Alexander J. Ambinder is an instructor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is active in the Division of Hematology Malignancies, Leukemia Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Ambinder has expertise in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and bone marrow transplantation.
Dr. Ambinder received his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his M.D. from Emory University School of Medicine and his M.P.H. from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. He completed the Osler Medical Residency Training Program in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins and subsequently served as an Assistant Chief of Service (Chief Resident). He completed his fellowships in Hematology and Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and also served as a Chief Fellow.
Dr. Ambinder is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Ambinder’s principle research interest is in designing and conducting clinical trials inspired by laboratory insights to improve the management of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. He also has an interest in building large databases that will yield insights that allow for more personalized approaches to the care and treatment of patients with blood cancers.
Centers and Institutes
Research Interests
Experimental Therapeutics for Acute Leukemias, Measurable Residual Disease
Research Summary
Dr. Ambinder’s research focuses on translating laboratory-based discoveries into new strategies to treat AML and MDS. He is working on enhancing the effectiveness of approved therapies by counteracting the protective mechanisms that cancer cells use to reduce their exposure to these agents. By pre-emptively blocking these survival mechanisms, Dr. Ambinder aims to eliminate residual leukemia, thereby increasing the chance of cure. Dr. Ambinder is also interested in developing more sophisticated databases that will allow oncologists to leverage cancer center’s cumulative experiences treating blood cancers to provide more personalized recommendations and prognoses for future patients.
Selected Publications
Ambinder A, Hambley B, Shanbhag S, Merrill S. Ibrutinib?associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: A case series from Johns Hopkins. American Journal of Hematology. 2019 August; 94(11):-. doi: 10.1002/ajh.25611
Ambinder A, Miller J, DeZern A. Autoimmune disease in CMML-the chicken or the egg?. Best Practice & Research Clinical Haematology. 2020 June; 33(2):101136-. doi: 10.1016/j.beha.2019.101136
Ambinder AJ, Shenoy PJ, Nastoupil LJ, Flowers CR. Using primary site as a predictor of survival in mantle cell lymphoma. Cancer. 2013 Apr 15;119(8):1570-7. doi: 10.1002/cncr.27898. Epub 2013 Jan 22. PubMed PMID: 23341329
Dalton WB, Helmenstine E, Walsh N, Gondek LP, Kelkar DS, Read A, Natrajan R, Christenson ES, Roman B, Das S, Zhao L, Leone RD, Shinn D, Groginski T, Madugundu AK, Patil A, Zabransky DJ, Medford A, Lee J, Cole AJ, Rosen M, Thakar M, Ambinder A, Donaldson J, DeZern AE, Cravero K, Chu D, Madero-Marroquin R, Pandey A, Hurley PJ, Lauring J, Park BH. Hotspot SF3B1 mutations induce metabolic reprogramming and vulnerability to serine deprivation. J Clin Invest. 2019 Aug 8;129(11):4708-4723. doi: 10.1172/JCI125022. PubMed PMID: 31393856; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6819102
Gavriilaki E, Yuan X, Ye Z, Ambinder AJ, Shanbhag SP, Streiff MB, Kickler TS, Moliterno AR, Sperati CJ, Brodsky RA. Modified Ham test for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. Blood. 2015 Jun 4;125(23):3637-46. doi: 10.1182/blood-2015-02-629683. Epub 2015 Apr 10. PubMed PMID: 25862562; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4784297
Honors
- Chief Fellow, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship, 1/1/19
- Assistant Chief of Service (Longcope Firm), Osler Medical Residency Training Program, Johns Hopkins, 1/1/17
Memberships
- American Society of Hematology
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
Locations
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
- 401 North Broadway Street, Weinberg BLDG, Baltimore, MD 21287
- phone: 410-955-8964
- fax: 410-367-2194
Expertise
Education
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Fellowship, Oncology, 2020Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Fellowship, Hematology and Oncology, 2017Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Residency, Internal Medicine, 2016Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Graduate School, MPH, 2013Emory University School of Medicine
Medical Education, MD, 2013Board Certifications
Medical Oncology
American Board of Internal Medicine, 2020Hematology
American Board of Internal Medicine, 2020Internal Medicine
American Board of Internal Medicine, 2016Insurance
- Aetna
- CareFirst
- Cigna
- First Health
- Geisinger Health Plan
- HealthSmart/Accel
- Humana
- Johns Hopkins Health Plans
- MultiPlan
- Pennsylvania's Preferred Health Networks (PPHN)
- Point Comfort Underwriters
- Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
- UnitedHealthcare
- Veteran Affairs Community Care Network (Optum-VACCN)
Ratings & Reviews
5 out of 5
98 ratings, 31 reviewsThe Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to physician related questions on the national CG-CAHPS Medical Practice patient experience survey through Press Ganey. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best score. Comments are also gathered from our CG-CAHPS Medical Practice Survey through Press Ganey and displayed in their entirety. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 3/21/2025
Excellent provider.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 2/14/2025
Dr AMBINDER was very attentive to our questions n concerns.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 2/4/2025
Continues to provide professional and knowledgeable services and guidance.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 1/31/2025
Good listener, explaining,
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 1/28/2025
Excellent clinician
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 1/21/2025
Very knowledgeable very kind , patient Show a lot of respect, let me explain or express myself
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 1/17/2025
Dr. Ambinder is a very thorough, knowledgeable, personable, professional and compassionate doctor.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 1/14/2025
Dr Ambinder went through a detailed description of my issues and possible options. He also gave opinion on best option to start
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 1/14/2025
Great professional. I feel blessed to have world class care.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 12/27/2024
The provider explained everything to me in a way that I could understand. Which was very helpful.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 12/3/2024
Excellent explanation of both my health issue and my options
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 12/3/2024
Dr. Ambinder is excellent!
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 11/26/2024
Needed straight forward answers and the doctor was great about giving them. He spent a lot of time explaining everything to me. I did not feel rushed. I appreciated the frankness.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 10/29/2024
He is excellent! I trust him completely.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 10/25/2024
Excellent. He is knowledgeable, a straight shooter no bs or around the bush,I.e. Frank. I am confident with his assessment and recommendation.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 10/15/2024
Dr. A. Ambinder is outstanding! He goes above and beyond to make sure everything is explained and is patient when information needs deeper clarification. Truly is a remarkable physician and compassionate
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 10/11/2024
Dr. Ambinder is an excellent Oncologist. He listens and provides thoughtful, evidence based answers to questions.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 10/8/2024
I appreciate the care I received from my provider. He helped me understand my health issue, and the treatment.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 10/8/2024
Dr. Ambinder is very caring, competent, professional and personable. I feel very fortunate to have him as a doctor.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 9/27/2024
Dr. Ambinder was very thorough and answered all questions that I had.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 9/3/2024
The provider is very good, spends enough time explaining things to the patients.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 8/27/2024
Turned my life around. Gave me another chance to live.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 8/27/2024
Very friendly, very professional and attentive to my concerns
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 8/13/2024
Dr. Ambinder provided a second opinion on my cancer testing and diagnosis done in May by my oncology providers at the University of Virginia. He was generous with his time in spending an hour with me and my husband on this consultation. This amount of time enabled us to fully understand the disease, diagnosis, treatments and also to get answers to our detailed questions about disease progression, treatments and outcomes.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 8/6/2024
Dr. Alex Ambinder is professional, compassionate, and thorough. He provides all information with clarity, invites all the questions I might have, and never makes me feel rushed in an appointment. I trust him wholeheartedly.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 7/16/2024
Dr Ambinder explains what proceduresAre next and what to expect extremely thorough
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 7/9/2024
Easy to talk to, and asked lots of questions. Seemed genuinely interested in my condition and helping me.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 7/2/2024
I'm extremely pleased with Dr. Ambinder. I feel that I am very lucky to have a doctor as caring, knowledgeable and helpful. He is top-notch.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 6/18/2024
Excellent experience. He listened and explained very well.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 6/18/2024
Very fond of Dr Ambinder. He's an exceptional Dr.
- 5 out of 5 starsReviewed on 4/2/2024
Dr A. Ambinder took the time to answer my question, review blood results and talk with both me and my husband. He is very calming and does not try to rush appointments.