Natalia Neparidze, MD, is a medical oncologist and hematologist who provides comprehensive care for people with multiple myeloma (a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow), monoclonal gammopathies (which involve abnormal plasma cells that make excess proteins), AL amyloidosis (caused by the buildup of these abnormal proteins in tissues and organs), and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (a slow-growing blood cancer that can lead to thickened blood).
“I knew I wanted to find a space or profession where I could help people, and I thought that medicine provided that avenue,” Dr. Neparidze says. “Then during medical school, my aunt developed a non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which was an impactful experience for me that ultimately led me to a career as a hematologist/oncologist.”
As an associate professor of internal medicine (hematology) at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Neparidze leads research aiming to refine advanced imaging techniques to improve precision approaches for multiple myeloma. She collaborates with immunologists and other researchers to explore factors that drive bone marrow malignancies, with the goal of developing therapies that could lengthen disease remission and enhance patients’ quality of life.
“We have a variety of investigational clinical trials where we offer treatments from early stage newly diagnosed myeloma through later diagnosis of relapse in recurrent myeloma,” she says.
Dr. Neparidze received her medical training at Aieti Medical School in Tbilisi, Georgia. She completed a residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of St Raphael in New Haven, and a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Yale School of Medicine.
