UChicago Medicine Faculty Physicians
Mariam Nawas, MD
Mariam Nawas, MD
UChicago Medicine Faculty Physicians
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Specialties
- Hematology and Oncology (Cancer)
Locations
- Chicago - Hyde Park
- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
My name is Dr. Mariam Nawas. I'm a hematologist/oncologist here at the University of Chicago. And I specialize in allogeneic stem cell transplant for all types of blood cancers. And I also treat patients with leukemias and myelodysplastic syndrome. I chose the field of oncology specifically because of my family's experience with cancer.
So when I was younger, my brother was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And the diagnosis really changed the course of our family. It's the reason we actually came to the United States. And it was obviously a very difficult time. And even till now, three decades later, my parents still think really fondly of my brother's oncologist. And not just the care that he provided, but also the way that he helped them navigate a really difficult time. And so I've always known that that was the type of impact I wanted to have as a physician and the type of role I wanted to play.
Specifically for stem cell transplant, I really love the complexity of the field. It's very interesting. Every patient case is different. The decision making is very complex, which I find really satisfying. And it's an opportunity to offer patients a cure from a lethal disease, which is a really great thing to be able to offer people. So I really fell in love with that. I think what distinguishes the University of Chicago are our faculty and our staff. I am very inspired by my colleagues here, the way that they excel both in patient care and in research, and doing very innovative and impactful research. And so it's very inspiring to me. And it keeps me motivated to make sure that I'm doing the best that I can for my patients also.
And the nature of stem cell transplant is that we work in a team. And so it was very important to me that I felt like every member of the team was as focused and as dedicated as I was to making sure that we have great patient outcomes. And I have found that to really be true here. I tell my patients that the decision to undertake a stem cell transplant is probably the biggest decision that they'll ever make in their lives. And so I view my role as basically someone there to guide them.
And I think, as a physician, it's important that I both know the data and have a good command of the field, but also that I understand my patients well and understand their priorities and their value systems to help them make the right decision for them. And so that's really what I strive to do. I am particularly interested in stem cell transplant in older patients.
The diseases that we treat with stem cell transplant are diseases of older adults, patients in their 60s and 70s. But a lot of places will restrict transplant based on a chronological age, meaning that they will not offer it to people if they're at 65 or 70, even though these are the patients who are most in need. And so we really distinguish ourselves in trying to figure out a patient's physiologic age and their ability to tolerate a treatment and not just rely on a number to determine whether or not someone should get transplanted.
So when I was younger, my brother was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And the diagnosis really changed the course of our family. It's the reason we actually came to the United States. And it was obviously a very difficult time. And even till now, three decades later, my parents still think really fondly of my brother's oncologist. And not just the care that he provided, but also the way that he helped them navigate a really difficult time. And so I've always known that that was the type of impact I wanted to have as a physician and the type of role I wanted to play.
Specifically for stem cell transplant, I really love the complexity of the field. It's very interesting. Every patient case is different. The decision making is very complex, which I find really satisfying. And it's an opportunity to offer patients a cure from a lethal disease, which is a really great thing to be able to offer people. So I really fell in love with that. I think what distinguishes the University of Chicago are our faculty and our staff. I am very inspired by my colleagues here, the way that they excel both in patient care and in research, and doing very innovative and impactful research. And so it's very inspiring to me. And it keeps me motivated to make sure that I'm doing the best that I can for my patients also.
And the nature of stem cell transplant is that we work in a team. And so it was very important to me that I felt like every member of the team was as focused and as dedicated as I was to making sure that we have great patient outcomes. And I have found that to really be true here. I tell my patients that the decision to undertake a stem cell transplant is probably the biggest decision that they'll ever make in their lives. And so I view my role as basically someone there to guide them.
And I think, as a physician, it's important that I both know the data and have a good command of the field, but also that I understand my patients well and understand their priorities and their value systems to help them make the right decision for them. And so that's really what I strive to do. I am particularly interested in stem cell transplant in older patients.
The diseases that we treat with stem cell transplant are diseases of older adults, patients in their 60s and 70s. But a lot of places will restrict transplant based on a chronological age, meaning that they will not offer it to people if they're at 65 or 70, even though these are the patients who are most in need. And so we really distinguish ourselves in trying to figure out a patient's physiologic age and their ability to tolerate a treatment and not just rely on a number to determine whether or not someone should get transplanted.
Mariam Nawas, MD, specializes in hematology and oncology with a primary focus on bone marrow transplantation (hematopoietic cell transplantation) for patients suffering from leukemias and other bone marrow cancers and disorders. Dr. Nawas is an expert in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) myelodyplastic syndromes (MDS) and clonal cytopenias. She is particularly interested in improving outcomes of transplantation and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy in older patients.
Dr. Nawas is passionate about using research to improve care and quality of life for her patients. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, such as Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Journal of Geriatric Oncology and more.
Dr. Nawas is passionate about using research to improve care and quality of life for her patients. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, such as Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Journal of Geriatric Oncology and more.
Specialties
Areas of Expertise
UChicago Medicine Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine - Hyde Park5758 S. Maryland Ave., Chicago IL 606371-888-824-0200
Board Certifications
- Hematology
- Medical Oncology
- Internal Medicine
Practicing Since
- 2014
Languages Spoken
- Arabic
- English
Medical Education
- University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine
Internship
- UCSF Medical Center
Residency
- University of California San Francisco Medical Center
Fellowship
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Memberships & Medical Societies
- American Society of Hematology
- American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
UChicago Medicine is committed to fostering a corporate culture of ethical behavior and integrity in all matters related to compliance with the laws and regulations that govern the delivery of healthcare. This aspiration is central to supporting patient care, research, and teaching at UChicago Medicine.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.