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Pankaj Gupta

Pankaj Gupta

•Chief, Hematology/Oncology, VA Long Beach Healthcare System
•Professor of Clinical Medicine (HCOMP, WOS, step V), Department of Medicine, University of California Irvine

Biography

Pankaj Gupta, MBBS, MD, FACP, is Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System and Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. He received his MBBS from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India, and completed his MD in Internal Medicine at the same institution. Following training at the Royal Marsden Hospital in the United Kingdom, he completed a fellowship in Hematology-Oncology-Transplantation at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he subsequently served on the faculty for over two decades before relocating to California in 2018.

Gupta's research spans basic, translational, and clinical investigations in hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. His laboratory work has focused on the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in human hematopoiesis and their functional abnormalities in mucopolysaccharidosis type I, leading to the development of stem cell-based therapeutics. His translational research identified the presence of opioid receptors on endothelial and tumor cells and demonstrated that activation of these receptors promotes tumor progression in preclinical models and is associated with shortened survival in patients with lung and prostate cancers. As National Study Chair, he leads an NCI-funded clinical trial through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology testing an opioid receptor antagonist in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. He has served as Study Chair for a national Cancer and Leukemia Group B trial investigating anti-angiogenic therapy in myelodysplastic syndromes and holds a patent on stroma-derived proteoglycan growth factors. His research has been supported by the NIH and the Department of Veterans Affairs for over two decades.

Gupta serves as Principal Investigator for multiple national cancer clinical trials programs at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, including the NCI-VA NAVIGATE initiative, the Southwest Oncology Group, and the VA Lung Precision Oncology Program (STELLAR), a $4.5 million initiative establishing lung cancer screening and precision oncology trials across Southern California and Nevada. He is a member of the NCI Myelodysplastic Syndromes Intergroup Working Group and the Symptom Management and Quality of Life Steering Committee at the National Cancer Institute. He served on the ABIM Medical Oncology Board Examination Item-Writing Task Force and Standard Setting Panel. Gupta was elected to Fellowship in the American College of Physicians in 2017.

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Education

  • MBBS, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (A.I.I.M.S.), 1982
  • MD in Internal Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (A.I.I.M.S.), 1987
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Distinctions

  • Session Chair, Karolinska Institute-University of Minnesota Symposium: Frontiers of Stem Cell Research, 2004
  • ODTS Certification, Royal College of Physicians of London, 1992
  • Fellowship in the American College of Physicians (FACP), 2017
  • Commonwealth Scholarship Award (UK) for Cancer Research, 1990
  • Elected member, European Society for Medical Oncology, 1991
  • Dr. PN Berry Scholarship (UK) for Bone Marrow Transplantation, 1990
  • Best Educator and Mentor Award, Minneapolis VA Health Care System, 2008-2009, 2013-2014
  • Trainee Investigator Award, American Federation for Clinical Research, 1995
  • Best Paper Award, Indian Association of Cancer Chemotherapists, 1989
  • National Scholarship, Government of India, 1977
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Areas of Expertise

  • Hematologic Malignancies
  • Myelodysplastic Syndrome Therapeutics
  • Opioid Receptor Cancer Signaling
  • Heparan Sulfate Stem Cell Biology
  • Lung Cancer Clinical Trials
  • Mucopolysaccharidosis Stem Cell Therapy
  • Peripheral Opioid Receptor Antagonism

Recent Publications

  • Gupta P., Gupta K., Dockter T., Harlos E., Chow S., Subbiah N., Ruddy K.J., Bazhenova L., Terstriep S., Huang C.H., Kratzke R.A., Vokes E.E., Loprinzi C.L., “Naloxegol, an Oral Peripherally Acting Opioid Receptor Antagonist, Administered Concurrently with First-Line Systemic Therapy for Advanced Lung Adenocarcinoma (Alliance A221504): A Feasibility and Safety Study” (opens in new tab), Cancers, vol. 18, 2026.
  • Moldenhauer MR, Gupta P, Ma H, “Treatment and survival of United States Vietnam veterans with concurrent lymphoid malignancies”, vol. 190, no. 5-6, pp. e1175-e1183, 2025.
  • Ma H., Gupta P., “Middle East Deployment and Lymphoid Malignancies in US Veterans: A Matched Case-Control Analysis” (opens in new tab), Cancers, vol. 17, 2025.
  • Ma H, O'Brien S, Gupta P, “Treatment patterns and outcomes in U.S. military veterans diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)”, Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 77-82, 2024.
  • Ma H, Wan JY, Cortessis VK, Gupta P, Cozen W, “Survival in Agent Orange Exposed and Unexposed Vietnam Era Veterans who were Diagnosed with Lymphoid Malignancies”, Blood Adv, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1037-1041, 2024.
  • Mahmood S, Gupta P, Ma H, “A Retrospective Analysis of Factors Impacting Survival in United States Military Veterans with Multiple Myeloma”, Leuk Lymphoma, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 530-533, 2024.
  • Ma H, Gupta P, “Long term follow up of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) in US veterans: Racial differences and associations with other malignancies”, J Clin Oncol, vol. 42, pp. 7573, 2024. Presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Chicago IL, June 2024.
  • Ma H, Wang S, O'Brien S, Kern M, Gupta P, “How we approach the perioperative management of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia receiving continuous cancer-directed therapies”, Br J Haematol, vol. 201, no. 2, pp. 215-21, 2023.
  • Ma H, Loughran TP Jr, Gupta P, “An analysis of veterans diagnosed with large granular lymphocytic disorders at the national Veteran Affairs Healthcare System”, Am J Hematol, vol. 98, no. 8, pp. E190-E192, 2023.
  • Mahmood S, Gupta P, Ma H, “Impact of Time Period of Diagnosis, Race and Military Exposures on the Survival of US Military Veterans with Multiple Myeloma and/or Plasmacytoma”, J Clin Oncol, vol. 41, no. 16_suppl, pp. e20061, 2023. Presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, June 2023.
  • Moldenhauer M, Gupta P, Ma H, “Concurrent Lymphoid Malignancies in US Military Veterans Who Served During the Vietnam War Era”, 2023. Presented at Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS), Kissimmee, FL, August 2023.
  • Ma H, Gupta P, “Characteristics and Outcomes of Lymphoid Malignancies in Veterans Exposed to Burn Pits”, Blood, vol. 142, no. Supplement 1, pp. 7405, 2023. Presented at American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, December 2023.
  • Thomas T, Patel B, Mitchell J, Whitmer A, Knoche E, Gupta P, “Treating advanced lung cancer in older veterans with comorbid conditions and frailty”, Semin Oncol, vol. 49, no. 3-4, pp. 353-361, 2022.
  • Ma H, Gupta P, Pinter-Brown L, Cozen W, “Outcomes in Veterans with T-cell Lymphoid Malignancies with Agent Orange Exposure Compared to Unexposed Veterans”, 2022. Presented at 14th Annual T-cell Lymphoma Forum, June 2022.
  • Ma H, Ricks-Oddie J, Gupta P, O'Brien S, Cozen W, “Veterans with Agent Orange Exposure Have a Shorter Latency from Exposure to Diagnosis of Indolent B-Cell Lymphoid Malignancies Compared to Unexposed Veterans”, Clin Lymphoma Myeloma and Leuk, vol. 22, no. suppl 2, pp. S389-S390, 2022. Presented at Society of Hematologic Oncology Annual Meeting, Houston, TX, September 2022.
  • Ma H, Gupta P, “Characteristics and Outcomes of Lymphoid Malignancies in Female United States Military Veterans”, Blood, vol. 140, no. Supplement 1, pp. 13111, 2022. Presented at 64th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, New Orleans, LA, December 2022.
  • Tran JM, Wu N, Sevak RJ, Gupta P, “Immune-related adverse events linked to immune checkpoint inhibitors”, J Hematol Oncol Pharm, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 127-133, 2021.
  • Ma H, Gupta P, “Clinical Characteristics of Peripheral T-cell Lymphomas in Veterans: A Single Institution Experience”, 2021. Presented at 13th Annual T-cell Lymphoma Forum Virtual Meeting, July 2021.
  • Ma H, O'Brien S, Gupta P, “Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Indolent B-cell Lymphoid Malignancies in Carcinogen-Exposed vs Unexposed US Veterans: A Matched Case-Control Study”, Clin Lymphoma Myeloma and Leuk, vol. 21, no. suppl 1, pp. S400-S401, 2021. Presented at Society of Hematologic Oncology Annual Meeting, September 2021.
  • Ma H, Ouyang Y, Gupta P, “Characteristics of Environmental Exposure-Associated Versus Unexposed High-Grade B-Cell Lymphomas in Veterans: A Single Center, Matched Case-Control Study”, Blood, vol. 138, no. Supplement 1, pp. 4488, 2021. Presented at American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, December 2021.
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Most Cited Publications

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Contact Information

Email: pankajg@uci.edu

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Last updated on 4/2/2026.