Martin H. Steinberg, MD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Martin H Steinberg, MD, is a hematologist/internist whose clinical and research focus has been on disorders of the red blood cell with special emphasis on sickle cell disease. He has published 450 articles and 3 textbooks on the science and clinical features of sickle cell disease and related disorders. A graduate of Cornell University and Tufts University School of Medicine he completed post-graduate training in New York and Boston. He conducts basic, translational and clinical studies devoted to understanding the pathophysiology and genetic basis of sickle cell phenotypic heterogeneity. He modeled the HbF concentration among red blood cells showing that only patients with very high HbF levels were likely to have major benefit, therefor setting a standard for HbF induction therapies. He identified cis- and trans-acting elements that help explain the high HbF levels of Saudi patients from the Eastern Province whose sickle hemoglobin gene is associated with the Arab-Indian haplotype. Using candidate gene, genome-wide association studies and next-generation sequencing to understand the genetic determinants of sickle cell disease heterogeneity, Dr. Steinberg and his coworkers modeled disease severity and selected subphenotypes of disease to discover hitherto unsuspected genetic associations. He has also reimagined the pathophysiologic features of sickle cell anemia, establishing with his collaborators a new widely accepted paradigm that the pathophysiology of sickle cell disease is a combination of both sickle vasoocclusion and intravascular hemolysis that has important prognostic and therapeutic implications. He also reported the first of a new class of hemoglobin disorders, the thalassemic hemoglobinopathies, wherein a single exonic mutation causes both a variant hemoglobin but also phenotype of thalassemia because of hemoglobin hyper-instability and catabolism.

Publications

  • Published 8/3/2026

    Steinberg MH. Subphenotypes of Sickle Cell Disease: A Guide to Targeting Treatment? Am J Hematol. 2026 Aug 03. PMID: 42545170.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/23/2026

    Benmhammed H, Sun Y, AlAbdullatif S, Chen A, Khan S, Zadeh AM, Mazile N, Beacham GM, Mahdaviani K, Williams C, Alekseyev YO, Campbell JD, Hagedorn EJ, Heaphy C, Klings ES, Steinberg MH, Cui S. PGC-1a agonism via oral administration of ZLN005 induces fetal hemoglobin and is antisickling in sickle mice. Blood Adv. 2026 Jun 23; 10(12):4358-4369. PMID: 42024469.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/11/2026

    Frangoul H, de la Fuente J, Chopra Y, Meisel R, Amrolia PJ, Algeri M, Sharma A, Cappellini MD, Corbacioglu S, Kattamis A, Lobitz S, de Montalembert M, Rondelli D, Sheth S, Steinberg MH, Walters MC, Boerner K, Liu T, Zairis S, Hobbs W, Grupp SA, Locatelli F. Exa-cel in Children with Transfusion-Dependent ß-Thalassemia or Sickle Cell Disease. N Engl J Med. 2026 Sep 10; 395(10):947-958. PMID: 42274009.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/4/2026

    Lofters J, Wilks A, Lee J, Hicks JN, Klings ES, Steinberg MH. HbF/F-cell and the Phenotype of Sickle Cell Disease. medRxiv. 2026 Jun 04. PMID: 42282210.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/21/2026

    Pate B, Goldstein A, Labott M, Lizarralde-Iragorri M, Chankhunthod A, Tyson T, Sloan M, Wijeyesekera C, Wilks A, Steinberg MH, Murphy GJ, Vanuytsel K. Modeling Genetic Diversity in Sickle Cell Disease Reveals Heterogeneous Responses to HbF-Inducing Therapies. bioRxiv. 2026 May 21. PMID: 42239194.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 374 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Professor, Pediatrics
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Member, Center for Regenerative Medicine
    Boston University
  • Member, Center for Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • Tufts University School of Medicine, MD
  • Cornell University, AB

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