Fotios Asimakopoulos, MB BChir, PhD

Fotios (Fotis) Asimakopoulos, MB BChir, PhD, is a medical oncologist and hematologist who treats people with plasma cell dyscrasias, also known as plasma cell disorders. His patients may have blood-related diseases such as multiple myeloma, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), amyloidosis, and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (a type of lymphoma).

He offers a variety of highly advanced treatment options, including immunotherapy, cellular therapy, stem cell transplantation, and tumor cell vaccines. Dr. Asimakopoulos is part of the joint UC San Diego Health / Sharp HealthCare Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Program, one of the largest and most respected BMT units in California, where patients receive care from the same physician throughout all phases of blood cancer treatment. This includes initial consultation and diagnosis, treatment to help achieve remission, care throughout stem cell transplants, and follow-up survivorship care.

As an associate professor in residence of medicine, Dr. Asimakopoulos is involved in training medical students, residents and fellows in hematology and oncology at UC San Diego School of Medicine, where he is the Robert J. Shillman Scholar in Cancer Research. He is an active researcher and his research is funded by the American Cancer Society and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Prior to joining UC San Diego Health in 2019, Dr. Asimakopoulos was a physician at the University of Wisconsin's Carbone Cancer Center and tenured associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. He also served as scientific director of the University of Wisconsin's Myeloma Study Group.

Dr. Asimakopoulos completed a fellowship in medical oncology and a research fellowship in clinical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He completed residency training in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Asimakopoulos earned his medical (MB BChir) and doctoral degrees from University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He also received training in hematology and cancer research as Golda Meir Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

He is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the International Myeloma Society, the American Association of Immunologists, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Dr. Asimakopoulos speaks fluent Greek and conversational French and Italian.

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For more information, see Blood Cancers and Cancer Care.