Tibor Kovacsovics,MD

Tibor Kovacsovics, MD, joined City of Hope Phoenix in April 2023 as a Hematologic Oncologist, focusing his practice on the diagnosis and treatment of blood cancers.

Dr. Kovacsovics played an integral role in establishing the leukemia program at City of Hope Phoenix as its Medical Director. He was excited by the challenge of developing the program from the ground up and has a great passion for health equity.

“There was a critical need in the Phoenix area for more high-quality hematologic cancer care,” says Dr. Kovacsovics. “I came to City of Hope to help fill that need and be able to provide vital care for underserved populations.”

He earned his medical degree from the University of Geneva School of Medicine Geneva, Switzerland, followed by a research fellowship at the University of Lausanne Institute of Biochemistry in Lausanne, Switzerland. After his residency in internal medicine at Clinique Médicale Thérapeutique at Geneva University Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, where he served as chief resident, Dr. Kovacsovics moved to the United States for his hematology-oncology fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

Born in Hungary and raised in Switzerland, Dr. Kovacsovics wasn’t initially interested in pursuing a career in medicine, even though both his parents were physicians. But he eventually became enamored by the prospect of being able to make an impact in many ways—as a researcher, administrator and physician devoted to patient care.

“Quality cancer care can’t go without research,” he says, and that focus on research was also a major driving factor in his decision to join City of Hope.

Dr. Kovacsovics brings with him 20 years of experience conducting clinical research on a variety of hematologic malignancies, serving as principal director and co-director on dozens of groundbreaking studies. He comes to City of Hope after 10 years at the University of Utah/Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he served as the Medical Director of the Inpatient Hematologic Malignancies/Transplant Unit and Co-Director of the Acute Leukemia Program in the division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies. As part of that role, he served as Associate Director of Hematologic Malignancy Clinical Research and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He’s also a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology and International Society of Amyloidosis. Dr. Kovacsovics speaks English, French and German fluently.

Outside of his work in hematology, Dr. Kovacsovics is a proud father who leads a very active lifestyle, playing tennis, hiking, traveling and going to concerts.