Prof. Alberto Montavani, MD  –  Tumor Macrophage Discoverer

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Alberto Montavani, MD, is Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the Humanitas University in Milan, and Scientific Director of the Instituto Clinico Humanitas. His attention has been focused on molecular mechanisms of innate immunity and inflammation. He has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in the field of immunology, formulating new paradigms and identifying new molecules and functions.

He has received several national and international awards for his research activity, such as the Triennial OECI Award from the Organization of the European Cancer Institutes, the Robert Koch Award for his contribution to tumor immunology and immunotherapy, the American-Italian Cancer Foundation (AICF) Prize for Excellence in Medicine and, most recently, the American Association for Cancer Research International Pezcoller Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research. The broad impact of his contributions is evidenced by citations.

As of February 2020 he has over 121,000 citations and an H-index of 167 (Scopus).

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Prof. Miriam Merad, MD, PhD – Macrophage & TME Immunologist

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Miriam Merad, MD, PhD is a Professor of Oncological Science, Medicine (Hem/Onc division) and Immunology and a member of the Immunology Institute and The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Merad obtained her MD at the University of Algiers, Algeria. She did her residency in Hematology and Oncology in Paris, France and obtained her PhD in Immunology in collaboration between Stanford University and University of Paris VII. She was recruited to Mount Sinai in 2004 and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with Tenure in 2007 and to Full Professor in 2010 and obtained an Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunology in 2014.

In 2010 Dr. Merad became the program leader of the Cancer Immunology Immunotherapy group at The Tisch Cancer Institute and the director of the Human Immunomonitoring Center. Dr. Merad’s laboratory studies the mechanisms that regulate the development and function of the mononuclear phagocyte lineage including dendritic cells and macrophages. Her laboratory has made seminal discoveries in macrophage biology revealing their embryonic origin and their local maintenance in situ. Dr. Merad identified many of the mechanisms that control dendritic cells and macrophage development, homeostasis and function in different tissues including the contribution of mononuclear phagocytes to neuronal function, barrier tissue integrity and tumor response to immunotherapy.

Dr. Merad belongs to several NIH-funded scientific consortia including the mucosal immunology study team and the Immgen Consortia to decipher the transcriptional regulation of the tissue dendritic cell and macrophage lineage. Currently, one of the major goals of her laboratory is to identify the contribution of phagocytes to tumor progression and response to treatment in mice and humans.

Dr. Merad has authored more than 150 primary papers and reviews in high profile journals and has obtained extensive NIH funding for her studies on innate immunity in mice and humans.

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Prof. Siamon Gordon, MD, PhD – Discovery of Scavenger Receptor

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Siamon Gordon, MD, PhD, was born in South Africa, graduated with a degree in medicine at the University of Cape Town in 1961 and with a doctorate in life sciences at Rockefeller University in 1971. Inspired by his research supervisor, Zanvil A Cohn, he has studied macrophage immunobiology over the past 50 years, first at Rockefeller, later at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology from 1976-2008. He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 2007. His interests include the history of immunology and promoting science in South Africa, where he initiated an HIV education programme.

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Prof. Nick King, MD, PhD – Virus & Myeloid Cell Expert

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Professor King is internationally recognized for his research on viral pathogenesis and immune-pathology and is co-inventor of the Cour immune modifying particle technology platform. He is Professor of Pathology at The University of Sydney, in Sydney, Australia. He received his Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Cape Town in 1976, and his PhD in 1986 from the Australian National University. After completing his post-doctoral training in the Research School of Physical Sciences at Australian National University, he joined the Department of Anatomy at the University in 1988 and the Department of Pathology in 1991. Most recently, Prof. King was admitted as an honorary member to the Royal College of Pathologists (2009). Prof. King has held or currently holds positions as the President of Federation of Immunological Societies Asia-Oceania (FIMSA), Treasurer of the International Union of Immunology Societies, Head of Department and Director of Sydney Cytometry, a state-of-the-art Core Facility at the University, and the most advanced and largest flow cytometry unit in the Southern Hemisphere. His work has provided groundbreaking insights into virus-host interactions. His early work discovered the ability of viruses, like West Nile Virus, to hijack cellular machinery to trick the immune system. More recently, he has pioneered new understanding surrounding immune pathology observed in the brain after infection and during autoimmunity. Most recently, he has focused his efforts on translating the novel discovery that nanoparticles may be harnessed to prevent immune mediated pathology. This includes the development of Phase 1/2 encephalitis clinical programs.

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Prof. Michael Dee Gunn, MD – T cell Vaccine Biologist

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Michael D. Gunn is a Professor of Medicine and Immunology at Duke University Medical Center. He received his MD from Southwestern Medical School and completed his residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital and his Clinical Cardiology training at UCSF. He then joined the lab of Dr. Lewis T. (Rusty) Williams at UCSF, where he developed an interest in inflammatory aspects of atherosclerotic disease and began to investigate chemokines. He first studied the monocyte chemoattractant MCP-1, but soon became interested in novel chemokines. He identified of the first two members of a new class of chemokines, the lymphoid chemokines, which mediate the migration of white blood cells to and within lymphoid organs. This discovery led him into the field of immunology, which has remained the focus of his research. After completing his postdoctoral training in 1999, Dr. Gunn moved to Duke University as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. Since then, the focus of Dr. Gunn’s work has been on determining how dendritic cells and other myeloid cells regulate immune responses and contribute to disease pathogenesis. His discoveries include the first two constitutive chemokines, CCL21 and CXCL13, murine plasmacytoid dendritic cells, the cells that mediate influenza-induced pulmonary immune pathology, the requirement of monocytes for the development of Th1 immune responses, and the lung macrophage population that stimulates the development of pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Gunn has a demonstrated record of performing high-impact science and developing disruptive technologies.

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Prof. Michael Lin, PhD – Assoc. Prof. Stanford University

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Our lab applies biochemical and engineering principles to the development of protein-based tools for imaging and control of biochemical processes. Topics of investigation include fluorescent proteins structure and biophysics, fluorescent protein-based biosensors, neuronal activity sensors, spatiotemporal analysis of protein translation pathways, chemical control of protein translation, and light-responsive proteins. Associate Professor of Neurobiology, of Bioengineering and, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology.

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Prof. Cameron Turtle, MD, PhD – T cell Therapy Expert

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Dr. Turtle completed medical training at the University of Sydney, Australia, followed by Fellowships of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, and a PhD in Immunology. He is an Associate Member and the Anderson Family Endowed Chair for Immunotherapy at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) and Associate Professor at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, WA. He serves as an attending physician on the Hematopoietic Cell Transplant (HCT) Service and the Immunotherapy Service at FHCRC, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and the UW Medical Center, and has a research laboratory in the Clinical Research Division at FHCRC. His laboratory is focused on understanding the characteristics of human T cells, their potential utility for tumor immunotherapy, and their role in immune reconstitution after HCT. Dr. Turtle is Principal Investigator and IND sponsor of several investigator-initiated clinical trials of CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cell therapy for patients with B cell malignancies.

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Prof. Steven M. Horwitz, MD –  Clinical T cell Lymphoma Specialist

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Dr. Horwitz is the Associate Attending in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital, and then completed a fellowship in medical oncology at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Horwitz is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the International Society of Cutaneous Lymphoma. He serves on the Executive Committee of the International T-cell Registry and the Board of Directors of the United States Consortium for Cutaneous Lymphomas. He is also a member on the lymphoma committee of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and has co-authored new guidelines for peripheral T-cell lymphomas, mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome, and cutaneous B-cell lymphomas. Further, Dr. Horwitz is a reviewer for numerous medical journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Blood, and serves on the editorial board of Clinical Lymphoma and Myeloma.

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Asst. Prof. Enrica Marchi, MD, PhD – Associate Professor at UVa

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Dr. Enrica Marchi is an Associate Professor at UVa, an oncologist in New York, New York and is affiliated with New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell University.

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Prof. Owen A. O’Connor, MD, PhD – American Cancer Society Professor and Professor of Medicine at University of Virginia

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Owen O’Connor, MD, PhD, is an American Cancer Society Professor and Professor of Medicine at University of Virginia In July 2018,was awarded an American Cancer Society (ACS) Clinical Research Professor grant. He’s an international authority on both non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphoma. For more than 20 years, his research has significantly contributed to the understanding and treatment of several types of lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma in particular. The grant provides research funding for at least 5 years and allows O’Connor to use the title ACS Clinical Research Professor for the rest of his life. It is considered the most prestigious grant from the ACS.

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