Board of Directors (2026-2029)
E. John Wherry III, PhD, FAACR, is the Barbara and Richard Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine and Director of the UPenn Institute for Immunology and Immune Health (I3H). He is also the director of the Colton Consortium for Autoimmunity. Dr. Wherry received his Ph.D. at Thomas Jefferson University and performed postdoctoral research at Emory University. Dr. Wherry helped pioneer the field of T cell exhaustion, defining the underlying molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of exhausted T cells and helping identify and define the role of the “checkpoint” molecule PD-1. His laboratory has also focused on applying systems immunology approaches to define Immune Health across a spectrum of diseases, and he has established an Immune Health platform to interrogate and use immune analysis to identify novel treatment opportunities for cancer and other diseases. Dr. Wherry has received numerous honors and awards and, as of February 2026, he has over 370 publications and former trainees at academic and research organizations around the world.
AACR Board of Directors