Board-certified hematologist-oncologist Firas El Chaer, M.D., MSHCM, has been named chief of Leukemia and medical director of Infusion Services at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute.

Prior to joining Baptist Health, Dr. El Chaer was an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He also served as medical director of the Cancer Service Line – Infusion Centers and medical director of the Chronic and Acute Leukemia Research Team at the University of Virginia Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. El Chaer earned his medical degree at the University of Balamand in Beirut, Lebanon. He served as chief resident during an internal medicine residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Englewood, N.J. He then completed a fellowship in infectious diseases for immune-compromised cancer patients at the combined program of Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He also completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology with a focus on blood disorders and a built-in fellowship in stem cell transplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he served as chief fellow.