Dr. Avi Markowitz was born in Poughkeepsie, New York and grew up in Virginia and New Jersey. He received his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1977. He then graduated with an MD from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine in 1981. He completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Diego in 1984. Dr. Markowitz returned to the Cancer Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine where he completed his Fellowship in Medical Oncology in 1986. After working briefly as a laboratory investigator for Cetus (a biotechnology company later acquired by Chiron), he returned to the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine as a Clinical Instructor in the Cancer Research Institute. During that time, he began his career as a clinical investigator. In 1987 Dr. Markowitz accepted a Faculty appointment at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Immunology and Biological Therapy. There, he continued his clinical investigations with a variety of novel biologic agents. He completed his stay at M.D. Anderson in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology in 1995.

Dr. Markowitz then moved to Bryan/College Station, Texas where he established two American College of Surgeons accredited Cancer Centers at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and College Station Medical Center. He was also Director of Research and Development at St. Joseph Regional Cancer Center. In June 2005 Dr. Markowitz was recruited to UTMB as Chief of Hematology/Oncology. Since coming to UTMB he has assumed the roles of Director of the Medical Oncology Fellowship for 5 years. He has been Chair of the Cancer Committee since January 2008 and remains the Associate Medical Director of Experimental Therapeutics in the UTMB Comprehensive Cancer Center where he is also Director of the Oncology Clinical Trials Office which monitors adult clinical oncology research at UTMB. Dr. Markowitz remains interested in novel drug development with a particular interest in targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Clinically, he is interested in the management of patients with chronic leukemia, lymphoma, melanoma, and breast cancer.