
Research Interests
Immunobiology of dendritic cells (DC) subsets, developmental pathways, DC-associated receptors, pathways of antigen presentation and key associated checkpoint molecules with respect to harnessing the capacity of these innate immune cells to enhance anti-tumor immunity in the clinic; direct intra-tumoral modulation of DC with immune modulators, DC-based vaccination, and DC-targeted vaccines; DC-innate immune cell cross-talk in the tumor microenvironment (TME) to identify regulatory conduits that can be appropriated to enhance immunity; cancer antigen discovery with a focus on shared neoantigens to enable the development of “off the shelf” vaccines; DC biology in the TME as it relates to anti-cancer immunity; innovative immune approaches to impact the treatment of cancers when combined with checkpoint therapies.
Current Affiliations
Professor of medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology; director, Immunotherapy Program; medical director, Vaccine and Cell Therapy Core Facility; and Ward Coleman chair in cancer research, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Previous Positions
Adjunct professor of medicine (2013-2016); codirector, Medical Scientist Training Program (2008-2010); medical director, Vaccine and Cell Therapy Core Facility (2002-2013); director, Tumor Vaccine Program (2002-2013); and tenured professor of medicine, pathology, and dermatology (2002-2013), New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York; lecturer (2001-2005), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; associate professor (1996-2002) and assistant professor (1990-1996), Department of Medicine; and instructor in medicine (1987-1990), Weill Medical Center/Cornell Medical Center, New York, New York.
Education
MD, PhD, MS, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York (1981); BA, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts (1975).
Postdoctoral Training
Postdoctoral associate, Rockefeller University (1986-1989), New York, New York; fellow, rheumatology, the Hospital for Special Surgery and Cornell University School of Medicine (1984-1986), New York, New York; resident (1982-1984) and intern (1981-1982) in internal medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Selected AACR Service, Honors, and Awards
Member, Asian/AANHPI Task Force (2023-present); member, AACR IO Ad Hoc Committee (2023-present); organizing committee member, Second JCA-AACR Precision Cancer Medicine International Conference (2023); member, AACR Exploratory IND/Phase 0 Clinical Trials Task Force (2021-present); chair, Satellite Educational Symposia Committee (2021-2022); member (2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2016-2017, 2021-2022) and chair (2017-2018), AACR-Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology Committee; member, Board of Directors (2021-2024); member, Education and Training Committee (2019-2022); cochair (2019-2020) and member (2012-2013), Annual Meeting Program Committee; invited speaker, Annual Meeting, “Making Science Count for Patients: From T-Cell Signaling to CTLA-4 Approval” (2019); member, Nominating Committee (2018-2019); member, Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research Committee (2018-2019); invited speaker, Annual Meeting, “Dendritic Cell-targeted Vaccines Personalized Therapies: Neoantigen Discovery and Vaccination” (2018); program organizer, CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival (2017); senior editor, AACR Journal, Cancer Immunology Research (2014-present); faculty, “Cancer Immunology for the Non-Immunologist: Tutorial Session” (2014-2015); chair, Cancer Immunology (CIMM) Working Group (2014-2015).
Selected Non-AACR Service, Honors, and Awards
Honoree, CRI/Oliver R. Grace CLIP Investigator (2024); fellow, SITC Class of Fellows of the Academy of Immuno-Oncology (2023); recipient, European Society for Medical Oncology’s (ESMO) Immuno-Oncology Award (2022); recipient, AAISCR Lifetime Achievement Award (2022); recipient, Outstanding Achievement Award, Society of American Asian Scientists in Cancer Research (2021); recipient, Society for Immunology of Cancer (SITC) Team Science Award (2020); recipient, Jacobi Medallion Award, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai (2020); recipient, Solomon Berson-Rosalyn Yallow Society Lectureship Award (2019); member, Board of Scientific Counselors, Vaccine Research Center, NIH (2016-2018); codirector, “Primer in Immunology,” (2016-2018); extramural member (2016-present) and member, Steering Committee (2015-2016), Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy; recipient, Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology, The Cancer Research Institute (2015); specialty chief editor, HIV and AIDS, Frontiers in Immunology (2015-2017); recipient, Ward Coleman Chair in Cancer Research (2013-present); recipient, New York University Solomon A. Berson Award in Basic Science (2012); recipient, Henry Silverman/Melanoma Research Alliance Team Science Award (2010); elected member, American Association of Physicians (2009); member, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Center Board of Scientific Counselors (2008-2013).