[{"id":"adrian-ochsenbein","name":"Adrian Ochsenbein","tldr":"Bern medical oncology chief whose lab targets leukaemia stem cells and CD70 signalling.","route":"/people/adrian-ochsenbein/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director UCI; Chief Physician, Medical Oncology · Inselspital, Bern University Hospital / University Cancer Center Inselspital","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Acute myeloid leukaemia","Chronic myeloid leukaemia"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Acute myeloid leukaemia","href":"/cancers/aml/","tip":"Acute myeloid leukaemia is an aggressive blood cancer where, after 40 years of the same chemotherapy, a wave of targeted drugs (FLT3, IDH, BCL-2, menin) arrived."},{"label":"Chronic myeloid leukaemia","href":"/cancers/cml/","tip":"Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a blood cancer driven by a single fused gene, BCR-ABL1, and the model for oncogene-targeted treatment: imatinib in 2001 and the tyrosine kinase inhibitors that followed turned it into a condition most people live with long-term. About half of patients with a sustained deep molecular response can now stop treatment altogether."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"leukaemia","href":"/tagged/leukaemia/","tip":"Every record tagged leukaemia."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"alexander-stratigos","name":"Alexander J. Stratigos","tldr":"Athens dermatologist who led the trial showing that cemiplimab works in advanced basal cell carcinoma after Hedgehog inhibitors have failed, and who co-authors the European skin cancer guidelines.","route":"/people/alexander-stratigos/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Dermatology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Andreas Sygros Hospital · National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Locally advanced and metastatic basal cell carcinoma","Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Skin cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Locally advanced and metastatic basal cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/locally-advanced-bcc/","tip":"Locally advanced basal cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown so large or deep, usually on the face, that surgery or radiotherapy can no longer remove it without unacceptable damage. Almost all these tumours depend on the hedgehog growth pathway, and the pills vismodegib and sonidegib shrink about four in ten of them; cemiplimab is used when the pills fail or cannot be tolerated."},{"label":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/advanced-cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown beyond what surgery or radiotherapy can remove or has spread to lymph nodes or organs. Because sun damage gives it more mutations than almost any other cancer, immunotherapy works well: cemiplimab or pembrolizumab shrinks about half of tumours, often for years, and cemiplimab before surgery can make large tumours vanish."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"skin","href":"/tagged/skin/","tip":"Every record tagged skin."},{"label":"guidelines","href":"/tagged/guidelines/","tip":"Every record tagged guidelines."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"alfredo-addeo","name":"Alfredo Addeo","tldr":"Thoracic oncologist who heads the Oncology Division at Geneva University Hospitals.","route":"/people/alfredo-addeo/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head of Division, Oncology · Geneva University Hospitals (HUG)","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","Small-cell lung cancer","Mesothelioma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/sclc/","tip":"A fast-growing lung cancer that responds to chemotherapy then relapses quickly. After 30 years without progress, T-cell engagers and ADCs are finally moving the needle."},{"label":"Mesothelioma","href":"/cancers/mesothelioma/","tip":"An asbestos-caused cancer of the lung lining. Immunotherapy doublets replaced chemotherapy in 2020, and mesothelin CAR-T is under study."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"lung cancer","href":"/tagged/lung-cancer/","tip":"Every record tagged lung cancer."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"alice-chen","name":"Alice P. Chen","tldr":"NCI oncologist who led the trial that showed atezolizumab produces lasting responses in alveolar soft part sarcoma, the first approved treatment for this rare cancer.","route":"/people/alice-chen/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Medical oncologist, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute · National Cancer Institute (NIH)","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Alveolar soft part sarcoma","Sarcomas"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Alveolar soft part sarcoma","href":"/cancers/alveolar-soft-part-sarcoma/","tip":"Alveolar soft part sarcoma is a rare, slow-growing cancer of young adults driven by a single fusion gene, ASPSCR1-TFE3, that switches on blood vessel growth. Chemotherapy does not work, but drugs that block the tumour's blood supply shrink it, and in 2023 the immunotherapy atezolizumab became the first drug approved for it."},{"label":"Sarcomas","href":"/cancers/sarcoma/","tip":"Sarcomas are dozens of rare cancers of bone and connective tissue. GIST was the first solid tumour cured-in-practice by a targeted pill; synovial sarcoma got the first TCR-T therapy."}],"tags":[{"label":"sarcoma","href":"/tagged/sarcoma/","tip":"Every record tagged sarcoma."},{"label":"rare-cancers","href":"/tagged/rare-cancers/","tip":"Every record tagged rare-cancers."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ana-oaknin","name":"Ana Oaknin","tldr":"Barcelona oncologist who led GARNET, the trial that brought dostarlimab to mismatch repair-deficient endometrial cancer, and who has led many trials of new drugs for gynaecological cancers.","route":"/people/ana-oaknin/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head of the Gynaecological Cancer Programme, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona · Vall d'Hebron University Hospital / VHIO","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer","Endometrial cancer","Cervical cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer","href":"/cancers/endometrial-mmr-deficient/","tip":"Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer has lost the machinery that corrects copying errors in DNA, so it accumulates thousands of mutations that make it visible to the immune system. Adding dostarlimab or pembrolizumab to chemotherapy in advanced disease cut the risk of progression by about seventy percent, and many patients remain in remission years later."},{"label":"Endometrial cancer","href":"/cancers/endometrial/","tip":"The gynaecological cancer where immunotherapy has had the biggest impact, guided by molecular classification."},{"label":"Cervical cancer","href":"/cancers/cervical/","tip":"A cancer that could be eliminated by HPV vaccination and screening. For those who develop it, immunotherapy and a tissue-factor ADC have improved survival."}],"tags":[{"label":"endometrial","href":"/tagged/endometrial/","tip":"Every record tagged endometrial."},{"label":"gynaecological","href":"/tagged/gynaecological/","tip":"Every record tagged gynaecological."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ann-lii-cheng","name":"Ann-Lii Cheng","tldr":"Taiwanese oncologist who led the Asia-Pacific sorafenib trial and co-led IMbrave150, the immunotherapy standard for liver cancer.","route":"/people/ann-lii-cheng/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Distinguished Professor and Director, National Taiwan University Cancer Center · National Taiwan University Hospital","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Hepatocellular carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Hepatocellular carcinoma","href":"/cancers/hcc/","tip":"Liver cancer almost always grows in a liver already damaged by hepatitis, alcohol or fatty liver disease. It is one of the most preventable cancers, and since 2020 immunotherapy combinations have roughly doubled how long people with advanced disease live."}],"tags":[{"label":"hcc","href":"/tagged/hcc/","tip":"Every record tagged hcc."},{"label":"asia","href":"/tagged/asia/","tip":"Every record tagged asia."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"anna-nowak","name":"Anna K. Nowak","tldr":"Australian oncologist who led DREAM and DREAM3R, testing durvalumab with chemotherapy in mesothelioma.","route":"/people/anna-nowak/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medical Oncology and Dean of Medicine, University of Western Australia · University of Western Australia","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Mesothelioma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Mesothelioma","href":"/cancers/mesothelioma/","tip":"An asbestos-caused cancer of the lung lining. Immunotherapy doublets replaced chemotherapy in 2020, and mesothelin CAR-T is under study."}],"tags":[{"label":"mesothelioma","href":"/tagged/mesothelioma/","tip":"Every record tagged mesothelioma."},{"label":"australia","href":"/tagged/australia/","tip":"Every record tagged australia."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"antonio-rosato","name":"Antonio Rosato","tldr":"Immunologist and Scientific Director of the Istituto Oncologico Veneto, leading its translational cancer research.","route":"/people/antonio-rosato/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Scientific Director · Istituto Oncologico Veneto IRCCS","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"arjun-balar","name":"Arjun V. Balar","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-052 and IMvigor210 cohort 1, establishing first-line immunotherapy for cisplatin-ineligible bladder cancer.","route":"/people/arjun-balar/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medicine and Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program, NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center · Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Bladder & urothelial cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Bladder & urothelial cancer","href":"/cancers/urothelial/","tip":"Bladder cancer went from 40 years of cisplatin to an ADC-immunotherapy combination that nearly doubled survival, and in 2026 the first blood-test-guided drug approval."}],"tags":[{"label":"urothelial","href":"/tagged/urothelial/","tip":"Every record tagged urothelial."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"barbara-burtness","name":"Barbara Burtness","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-048, which made pembrolizumab first-line therapy for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer.","route":"/people/barbara-burtness/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medicine and Co-Leader, Developmental Therapeutics, Yale Cancer Center · Yale Cancer Center / Smilow Cancer Hospital","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"head-and-neck","href":"/tagged/head-and-neck/","tip":"Every record tagged head-and-neck."},{"label":"ecog-acrin","href":"/tagged/ecog-acrin/","tip":"Every record tagged ecog-acrin."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"brian-rini","name":"Brian I. Rini","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-426, which made pembrolizumab plus axitinib a first-line standard for kidney cancer.","route":"/people/brian-rini/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chief of Clinical Trials, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; Ingram Professor of Cancer Research · Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Renal cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Renal cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/rcc/","tip":"Kidney cancer is where anti-angiogenic drugs and immunotherapy came together, and where a Nobel-winning oxygen-sensing pathway yielded a drug, belzutifan."}],"tags":[{"label":"rcc","href":"/tagged/rcc/","tip":"Every record tagged rcc."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"bruno-sangro","name":"Bruno Sangro","tldr":"Hepatologist at Clínica Universidad de Navarra and a leading international investigator in liver cancer systemic therapy and radioembolisation.","route":"/people/bruno-sangro/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Translational Research lead, Executive Committee · Cancer Center Clínica Universidad de Navarra / CIMA","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Hepatocellular carcinoma","Biliary tract cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Hepatocellular carcinoma","href":"/cancers/hcc/","tip":"Liver cancer almost always grows in a liver already damaged by hepatitis, alcohol or fatty liver disease. It is one of the most preventable cancers, and since 2020 immunotherapy combinations have roughly doubled how long people with advanced disease live."},{"label":"Biliary tract cancer","href":"/cancers/cholangiocarcinoma/","tip":"Cholangiocarcinoma is cancer of the bile ducts or gallbladder. It is rare and often found late, but it turned out to carry more targetable mutations than almost any other gastrointestinal cancer, and immunotherapy now adds to chemotherapy from the first treatment."}],"tags":[{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"liver cancer","href":"/tagged/liver-cancer/","tip":"Every record tagged liver cancer."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"caroline-robert","name":"Caroline Robert","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-006 and COMBI-v, the trials that made pembrolizumab and dabrafenib-trametinib standards in melanoma.","route":"/people/caroline-robert/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head of Dermatology Unit, Gustave Roussy; Professor, Paris-Saclay University · Gustave Roussy","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"danny-rischin","name":"Danny Rischin","tldr":"Melbourne oncologist who led C-POST, the trial that showed cemiplimab after surgery and radiotherapy cuts recurrence in high-risk cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma.","route":"/people/danny-rischin/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Medical oncologist and Director of Medical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre · Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Skin cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/advanced-cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown beyond what surgery or radiotherapy can remove or has spread to lymph nodes or organs. Because sun damage gives it more mutations than almost any other cancer, immunotherapy works well: cemiplimab or pembrolizumab shrinks about half of tumours, often for years, and cemiplimab before surgery can make large tumours vanish."},{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"skin","href":"/tagged/skin/","tip":"Every record tagged skin."},{"label":"head-and-neck","href":"/tagged/head-and-neck/","tip":"Every record tagged head-and-neck."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dean-fennell","name":"Dean A. Fennell","tldr":"Led CONFIRM and MARS 2, which showed nivolumab helps relapsed mesothelioma and that radical surgery does not.","route":"/people/dean-fennell/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Thoracic Medical Oncology, University of Leicester · Leicester Cancer Research Centre / University Hospitals of Leicester","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Mesothelioma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Mesothelioma","href":"/cancers/mesothelioma/","tip":"An asbestos-caused cancer of the lung lining. Immunotherapy doublets replaced chemotherapy in 2020, and mesothelin CAR-T is under study."}],"tags":[{"label":"mesothelioma","href":"/tagged/mesothelioma/","tip":"Every record tagged mesothelioma."},{"label":"surgery","href":"/tagged/surgery/","tip":"Every record tagged surgery."},{"label":"uk","href":"/tagged/uk/","tip":"Every record tagged uk."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dean-bajorin","name":"Dean F. Bajorin","tldr":"Led CheckMate 274, which established adjuvant nivolumab after bladder cancer surgery.","route":"/people/dean-bajorin/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Attending Physician, Genitourinary Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Bladder & urothelial cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Bladder & urothelial cancer","href":"/cancers/urothelial/","tip":"Bladder cancer went from 40 years of cisplatin to an ADC-immunotherapy combination that nearly doubled survival, and in 2026 the first blood-test-guided drug approval."}],"tags":[{"label":"urothelial","href":"/tagged/urothelial/","tip":"Every record tagged urothelial."},{"label":"adjuvant","href":"/tagged/adjuvant/","tip":"Every record tagged adjuvant."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dirk-schadendorf","name":"Dirk Schadendorf","tldr":"Melanoma expert who directs the West German Cancer Center at University Hospital Essen.","route":"/people/dirk-schadendorf/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director WTZ Essen; Director, Department of Dermatology · West German Cancer Center (WTZ), University Hospital Essen","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma","Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Merkel cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a sun-related skin cancer with over a million US cases a year, almost all cured by removing them. The 2 to 5% that grow deep or spread respond to PD-1 immunotherapy (cemiplimab, pembrolizumab), which is now also given after surgery in high-risk cases; transplant recipients cannot safely receive it."},{"label":"Merkel cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/merkel-cell-carcinoma/","tip":"Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare, fast-growing skin cancer, usually caused by a common virus (Merkel cell polyomavirus) or by sun damage. It was almost untreatable once it spread; PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy now gives lasting responses in about half of patients."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"domenica-lorusso","name":"Domenica Lorusso","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-A18, which showed adding pembrolizumab to chemoradiotherapy improves survival in locally advanced cervical cancer.","route":"/people/domenica-lorusso/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director of Gynaecological Oncology, Humanitas San Pio X and Humanitas University, Milan · IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Cervical cancer","Endometrial cancer","Ovarian cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Cervical cancer","href":"/cancers/cervical/","tip":"A cancer that could be eliminated by HPV vaccination and screening. For those who develop it, immunotherapy and a tissue-factor ADC have improved survival."},{"label":"Endometrial cancer","href":"/cancers/endometrial/","tip":"The gynaecological cancer where immunotherapy has had the biggest impact, guided by molecular classification."},{"label":"Ovarian cancer","href":"/cancers/ovarian/","tip":"Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease."}],"tags":[{"label":"cervical","href":"/tagged/cervical/","tip":"Every record tagged cervical."},{"label":"italy","href":"/tagged/italy/","tip":"Every record tagged italy."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"elias-jabbour","name":"Elias Jabbour","tldr":"Leukaemia specialist who built chemotherapy-light regimens combining inotuzumab, blinatumomab and ponatinib for adult ALL.","route":"/people/elias-jabbour/","kind":"person","logo":"/portraits/elias-jabbour.jpg","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Leukemia, MD Anderson Cancer Center · MD Anderson Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","href":"/cancers/all-leukemia/","tip":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the childhood cancer success story, and was the first disease treated with CAR-T and with a T-cell engager."}],"tags":[{"label":"all","href":"/tagged/all/","tip":"Every record tagged all."},{"label":"chemo-free","href":"/tagged/chemo-free/","tip":"Every record tagged chemo-free."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"elizabeth-mittendorf","name":"Elizabeth A. Mittendorf","tldr":"Surgeon-scientist who led IMpassion031 and studies of surgery de-escalation after neoadjuvant immunotherapy.","route":"/people/elizabeth-mittendorf/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director, Breast Immuno-Oncology Program, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center · Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Triple-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."}],"tags":[{"label":"tnbc","href":"/tagged/tnbc/","tip":"Every record tagged tnbc."},{"label":"surgery","href":"/tagged/surgery/","tip":"Every record tagged surgery."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ezra-cohen","name":"Ezra E. W. Cohen","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-040, which showed pembrolizumab improves survival in previously treated head and neck cancer.","route":"/people/ezra-cohen/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematology-Oncology, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center · UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Thyroid cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Thyroid cancer","href":"/cancers/thyroid/","tip":"Thyroid cancer is usually curable with surgery and radioactive iodine, the original theranostic. Rare aggressive forms respond to RET and BRAF inhibitors."}],"tags":[{"label":"head-and-neck","href":"/tagged/head-and-neck/","tip":"Every record tagged head-and-neck."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"gordon-freeman","name":"Gordon J. Freeman","tldr":"Showed that PD-L1 is the ligand for PD-1 and that the pair switches T cells off, the foundation of checkpoint immunotherapy.","route":"/people/gordon-freeman/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School · Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"discovery","href":"/tagged/discovery/","tip":"Every record tagged discovery."},{"label":"pd-1","href":"/tagged/pd-1/","tip":"Every record tagged pd-1."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"heinz-josef-lenz","name":"Heinz-Josef Lenz","tldr":"Colorectal oncologist who led CheckMate 142 and co-led CheckMate 8HW, bringing nivolumab plus ipilimumab to MSI-high disease.","route":"/people/heinz-josef-lenz/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medicine and Co-Director, Colorectal Center, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center · USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely, yet most metastatic disease still depends on chemotherapy."}],"tags":[{"label":"colorectal","href":"/tagged/colorectal/","tip":"Every record tagged colorectal."},{"label":"swog","href":"/tagged/swog/","tip":"Every record tagged swog."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"howard-kaufman","name":"Howard L. Kaufman","tldr":"Led OPTiM, the trial that made talimogene laherparepvec the first approved oncolytic virus therapy.","route":"/people/howard-kaufman/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Surgical Oncologist, Massachusetts General Hospital; Chief Medical Officer, Ankyra Therapeutics · Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma","Merkel cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Merkel cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/merkel-cell-carcinoma/","tip":"Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare, fast-growing skin cancer, usually caused by a common virus (Merkel cell polyomavirus) or by sun damage. It was almost untreatable once it spread; PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy now gives lasting responses in about half of patients."}],"tags":[{"label":"oncolytic-virus","href":"/tagged/oncolytic-virus/","tip":"Every record tagged oncolytic-virus."},{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ignacio-melero","name":"Ignacio Melero","tldr":"Spanish immunologist who pioneered CD137 agonist antibodies and intratumoural immunotherapy.","route":"/people/ignacio-melero/","kind":"person","logo":"/portraits/ignacio-melero.jpg","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Immunology, Universidad de Navarra; Senior Consultant, Clínica Universidad de Navarra · Cancer Center Clínica Universidad de Navarra / CIMA","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Hepatocellular carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Hepatocellular carcinoma","href":"/cancers/hcc/","tip":"Liver cancer almost always grows in a liver already damaged by hepatitis, alcohol or fatty liver disease. It is one of the most preventable cancers, and since 2020 immunotherapy combinations have roughly doubled how long people with advanced disease live."}],"tags":[{"label":"costimulation","href":"/tagged/costimulation/","tip":"Every record tagged costimulation."},{"label":"spain","href":"/tagged/spain/","tip":"Every record tagged spain."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"inge-van-der-sluis","name":"Inge M. van der Sluis","tldr":"Dutch paediatric oncologist who led the study showing that adding one course of blinatumomab to chemotherapy sharply improves survival for babies with KMT2A-rearranged leukaemia.","route":"/people/inge-van-der-sluis/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Paediatric oncologist, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology · Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","Childhood cancers"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","href":"/cancers/all-infant/","tip":"Leukaemia diagnosed in the first year of life is a different disease from leukaemia in older children: most cases carry a broken KMT2A gene and respond poorly to chemotherapy, and fewer than half of infants were cured for twenty years. One course of the immune drug blinatumomab after induction raised two-year disease-free survival from about half to over 80 percent in a pilot study."},{"label":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","href":"/cancers/all-leukemia/","tip":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the childhood cancer success story, and was the first disease treated with CAR-T and with a T-cell engager."},{"label":"Childhood cancers","href":"/cancers/childhood-cancers/","tip":"Cancer in children is rare and different from adult cancer: the common types are leukaemias, brain tumours, lymphomas and embryonal tumours such as neuroblastoma and Wilms tumour, most are curable in well-resourced health systems, and the great challenge is bringing the same cures to the majority of children who live where they are not available."}],"tags":[{"label":"paediatric","href":"/tagged/paediatric/","tip":"Every record tagged paediatric."},{"label":"leukaemia","href":"/tagged/leukaemia/","tip":"Every record tagged leukaemia."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jaffer-ajani","name":"Jaffer A. Ajani","tldr":"Gastro-oesophageal oncologist who co-led CheckMate 649, the trial that added nivolumab to first-line gastric cancer chemotherapy.","route":"/people/jaffer-ajani/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center · MD Anderson Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","Oesophageal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","href":"/cancers/gastric/","tip":"A cancer with three new targets in five years: Claudin 18.2, FGFR2b, and HER2 with new ADCs, plus immunotherapy in first line."},{"label":"Oesophageal cancer","href":"/cancers/esophageal/","tip":"Oesophageal cancer is really two diseases sharing one organ: squamous cell carcinoma, which dominates in Asia, and adenocarcinoma, which dominates in the West and is treated like gastric cancer. Immunotherapy is now standard, and the bispecific ADC iza-bren posted a positive phase 3 in the squamous type in 2026."}],"tags":[{"label":"gastric","href":"/tagged/gastric/","tip":"Every record tagged gastric."},{"label":"esophageal","href":"/tagged/esophageal/","tip":"Every record tagged esophageal."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jean-jacques-grob","name":"Jean-Jacques Grob","tldr":"Marseille dermatologist who led KEYNOTE-629, which established pembrolizumab for advanced cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma, and who has been a senior investigator on many European melanoma trials.","route":"/people/jean-jacques-grob/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Dermatology, Aix-Marseille University, Hôpital de la Timone · Hôpital de la Timone, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Melanoma","Skin cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/advanced-cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown beyond what surgery or radiotherapy can remove or has spread to lymph nodes or organs. Because sun damage gives it more mutations than almost any other cancer, immunotherapy works well: cemiplimab or pembrolizumab shrinks about half of tumours, often for years, and cemiplimab before surgery can make large tumours vanish."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"skin","href":"/tagged/skin/","tip":"Every record tagged skin."},{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jean-pascal-machiels","name":"Jean-Pascal Machiels","tldr":"Brussels oncologist who led KEYNOTE-412, the trial that tested adding pembrolizumab to chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer.","route":"/people/jean-pascal-machiels/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head of Medical Oncology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels · King Albert II Cancer Institute, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/hpv-negative-head-and-neck-cancer/","tip":"Head and neck cancers caused by tobacco and alcohol rather than HPV are harder to cure: surgery or cisplatin chemoradiation is the mainstay, immunotherapy given around surgery (KEYNOTE-689) or after it (NIVOPOSTOP) has begun to help, and pembrolizumab is the first treatment once the disease has spread."},{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"head-and-neck","href":"/tagged/head-and-neck/","tip":"Every record tagged head-and-neck."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jedd-wolchok","name":"Jedd D. Wolchok","tldr":"Led CheckMate 067, the trial whose ten-year data showed half of advanced melanoma patients on nivolumab plus ipilimumab are alive.","route":"/people/jedd-wolchok/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Meyer Director, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine · Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jeffrey-bluestone","name":"Jeffrey A. Bluestone","tldr":"The immunologist who ran the Parker Institute from its launch in 2016, building a shared research network across leading US cancer centres; he came from UCSF and now leads a regulatory T cell company.","route":"/people/jeffrey-bluestone/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Founding President and Chief Executive Officer, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (2016 to 2021); Chief Executive Officer and President, Sonoma BioTherapeutics · Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"joaquim-bellmunt","name":"Joaquim Bellmunt","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-045, the first trial to show immunotherapy beats chemotherapy in advanced bladder cancer.","route":"/people/joaquim-bellmunt/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director, Bladder Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School · Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Bladder & urothelial cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Bladder & urothelial cancer","href":"/cancers/urothelial/","tip":"Bladder cancer went from 40 years of cisplatin to an ADC-immunotherapy combination that nearly doubled survival, and in 2026 the first blood-test-guided drug approval."}],"tags":[{"label":"urothelial","href":"/tagged/urothelial/","tip":"Every record tagged urothelial."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"john-stagg","name":"John Stagg","tldr":"Immunologist who studies why tumours resist immunotherapy and directs the Goodman Cancer Institute, McGill University's cancer research institute in Montreal.","route":"/people/john-stagg/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute · Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute, McGill University","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jonathan-rosenberg","name":"Jonathan E. Rosenberg","tldr":"Led the early enfortumab vedotin trials and the atezolizumab study that first brought immunotherapy to bladder cancer.","route":"/people/jonathan-rosenberg/","kind":"person","logo":"/portraits/jonathan-rosenberg.jpg","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chief, Genitourinary Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Bladder & urothelial cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Bladder & urothelial cancer","href":"/cancers/urothelial/","tip":"Bladder cancer went from 40 years of cisplatin to an ADC-immunotherapy combination that nearly doubled survival, and in 2026 the first blood-test-guided drug approval."}],"tags":[{"label":"urothelial","href":"/tagged/urothelial/","tip":"Every record tagged urothelial."},{"label":"adc","href":"/tagged/adc/","tip":"Every record tagged adc."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jong-mu-sun","name":"Jong-Mu Sun","tldr":"Korean oncologist who was lead author of KEYNOTE-590, the trial that added pembrolizumab to first-line chemotherapy for advanced oesophageal cancer.","route":"/people/jong-mu-sun/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Medical oncologist, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul · Samsung Medical Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma","Oesophageal and junctional adenocarcinoma","Oesophageal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/oesophageal-squamous-cell-carcinoma/","tip":"Squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus, the world's commonest form, is linked to smoking, alcohol and very hot drinks and sits in the upper and middle gullet. It is treated with chemoradiation, with or without surgery, and immunotherapy has recently joined chemotherapy for advanced disease."},{"label":"Oesophageal and junctional adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/oesophageal-adenocarcinoma/","tip":"Adenocarcinoma of the lower oesophagus and junction grows out of Barrett's oesophagus, the change in the lining caused by long-standing acid reflux. Chemotherapy or chemoradiation before surgery is standard, and HER2, PD-L1 and claudin 18.2 now guide drugs for advanced disease as they do in stomach cancer."},{"label":"Oesophageal cancer","href":"/cancers/esophageal/","tip":"Oesophageal cancer is really two diseases sharing one organ: squamous cell carcinoma, which dominates in Asia, and adenocarcinoma, which dominates in the West and is treated like gastric cancer. Immunotherapy is now standard, and the bispecific ADC iza-bren posted a positive phase 3 in the squamous type in 2026."}],"tags":[{"label":"oesophageal","href":"/tagged/oesophageal/","tip":"Every record tagged oesophageal."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"jurgen-kuball","name":"Jürgen Kuball","tldr":"Utrecht haematologist and immunotherapy researcher on the daily board of UMC Utrecht's cancer programme, known for gamma-delta T cell receptor-engineered cell therapies.","route":"/people/jurgen-kuball/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Daily Board member, Strategic Program Cancer · UMC Utrecht Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Acute myeloid leukaemia","Multiple myeloma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Acute myeloid leukaemia","href":"/cancers/aml/","tip":"Acute myeloid leukaemia is an aggressive blood cancer where, after 40 years of the same chemotherapy, a wave of targeted drugs (FLT3, IDH, BCL-2, menin) arrived."},{"label":"Multiple myeloma","href":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/","tip":"Multiple myeloma is a plasma-cell cancer with more new drug classes than any other: proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs, CD38 antibodies, BCMA CAR-T, bispecifics, and an ADC."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"haematology","href":"/tagged/haematology/","tip":"Every record tagged haematology."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"karen-knudsen","name":"Karen E. Knudsen","tldr":"The cancer biologist and former American Cancer Society chief executive who now runs the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.","route":"/people/karen-knudsen/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy · Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"karim-vermaelen","name":"Karim Vermaelen","tldr":"Thoracic oncologist and tumour immunologist who chairs the Cancer Research Institute Ghent at Ghent University / UZ Gent.","route":"/people/karim-vermaelen/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chairperson, CRIG Steering Committee (2026-2028) · Ghent University Hospital / Cancer Research Institute Ghent","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","Mesothelioma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Mesothelioma","href":"/cancers/mesothelioma/","tip":"An asbestos-caused cancer of the lung lining. Immunotherapy doublets replaced chemotherapy in 2020, and mesothelin CAR-T is under study."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"lung cancer","href":"/tagged/lung-cancer/","tip":"Every record tagged lung cancer."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ken-kato","name":"Ken Kato","tldr":"Japanese oncologist who led ATTRACTION-3 and KEYNOTE-590, bringing immunotherapy to oesophageal cancer.","route":"/people/ken-kato/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chief, Department of Head and Neck, Esophageal Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo · National Cancer Center Hospital","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Oesophageal cancer","Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Oesophageal cancer","href":"/cancers/esophageal/","tip":"Oesophageal cancer is really two diseases sharing one organ: squamous cell carcinoma, which dominates in Asia, and adenocarcinoma, which dominates in the West and is treated like gastric cancer. Immunotherapy is now standard, and the bispecific ADC iza-bren posted a positive phase 3 in the squamous type in 2026."},{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"esophageal","href":"/tagged/esophageal/","tip":"Every record tagged esophageal."},{"label":"japan","href":"/tagged/japan/","tip":"Every record tagged japan."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"kunle-odunsi","name":"Kunle Odunsi","tldr":"Gynaecologic oncologist and immunotherapy researcher who directs the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center.","route":"/people/kunle-odunsi/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director · University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Ovarian cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Ovarian cancer","href":"/cancers/ovarian/","tip":"Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"ovarian cancer","href":"/tagged/ovarian-cancer/","tip":"Every record tagged ovarian cancer."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"lieping-chen","name":"Lieping Chen","tldr":"Discovered PD-L1 (B7-H1) and showed tumours use it to escape immunity, the biology behind every anti-PD-1 drug.","route":"/people/lieping-chen/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"United Technologies Corporation Professor in Cancer Research, Yale School of Medicine · Yale School of Medicine / Yale Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"discovery","href":"/tagged/discovery/","tip":"Every record tagged discovery."},{"label":"pd-l1","href":"/tagged/pd-l1/","tip":"Every record tagged pd-l1."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"luis-paz-ares","name":"Luis Paz-Ares","tldr":"Madrid medical oncologist who heads the joint 12 de Octubre-CNIO lung cancer clinical research unit and led the KEYNOTE-407 trial in squamous lung cancer.","route":"/people/luis-paz-ares/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head of the H12O-CNIO Lung Cancer Clinical Research Unit · Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","Small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/sclc/","tip":"A fast-growing lung cancer that responds to chemotherapy then relapses quickly. After 30 years without progress, T-cell engagers and ADCs are finally moving the needle."}],"tags":[{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"lung cancer","href":"/tagged/lung-cancer/","tip":"Every record tagged lung cancer."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"marco-herold","name":"Marco Herold","tldr":"Cancer biologist who leads the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the research arm of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre in Melbourne.","route":"/people/marco-herold/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chief Executive Officer, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute · Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"genome-editing","href":"/tagged/genome-editing/","tip":"Every record tagged genome-editing."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"martin-reck","name":"Martin Reck","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-024, the trial that made pembrolizumab alone first-line therapy for PD-L1-high lung cancer.","route":"/people/martin-reck/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head of Thoracic Oncology, LungenClinic Grosshansdorf · LungenClinic Grosshansdorf","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","Small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/sclc/","tip":"A fast-growing lung cancer that responds to chemotherapy then relapses quickly. After 30 years without progress, T-cell engagers and ADCs are finally moving the needle."}],"tags":[{"label":"lung","href":"/tagged/lung/","tip":"Every record tagged lung."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"matthew-hellmann","name":"Matthew D. Hellmann","tldr":"Lung cancer doctor who was the lead author of CheckMate 227, the trial that showed the immunotherapy pair nivolumab and ipilimumab helps people with advanced lung cancer live longer than chemotherapy alone.","route":"/people/matthew-hellmann/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Medical oncologist and trial lead, thoracic immunotherapy","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["PD-L1-high non-small-cell lung cancer without a driver mutation","Non-small-cell lung cancer","Lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"PD-L1-high non-small-cell lung cancer without a driver mutation","href":"/cancers/pdl1-high-nsclc/","tip":"Lung cancers that carry a lot of PD-L1 and no targetable mutation can be treated with an immunotherapy antibody alone instead of chemotherapy. Pembrolizumab keeps about a third of patients alive at five years, roughly double what chemotherapy achieved, and adding chemotherapy is reserved for those who need a fast response."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Lung cancer","href":"/cancers/lung-cancer/","tip":"Lung cancer splits into non-small-cell (about 85 percent) and small-cell (about 15 percent) disease, which behave and are treated very differently. The subtype pages carry the detail; this page covers screening, staging and what the types share."}],"tags":[{"label":"lung","href":"/tagged/lung/","tip":"Every record tagged lung."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"michael-postow","name":"Michael A. Postow","tldr":"Led CheckMate 069, the first randomised trial of nivolumab plus ipilimumab, and defines how to manage immunotherapy side effects.","route":"/people/michael-postow/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Chief, Melanoma Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"toxicity","href":"/tagged/toxicity/","tip":"Every record tagged toxicity."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"michael-atkins","name":"Michael B. Atkins","tldr":"Washington oncologist who led DREAMseq, the trial that showed people with BRAF-mutant melanoma live longer if immunotherapy is given before targeted therapy rather than after.","route":"/people/michael-atkins/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Deputy Director, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center · Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Advanced melanoma","BRAF V600-mutant melanoma","Melanoma","Renal cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Advanced melanoma","href":"/cancers/advanced-melanoma/","tip":"Advanced melanoma has spread beyond what surgery can remove, and it is the cancer in which immunotherapy first proved it could cure some people: about half of those given nivolumab with ipilimumab are alive ten years later. If immunotherapy fails, options include a cell therapy grown from the patient's own immune cells, a virus injected into the tumour, and targeted pills for BRAF-mutant disease."},{"label":"BRAF V600-mutant melanoma","href":"/cancers/braf-v600-melanoma/","tip":"BRAF V600-mutant melanoma has a single faulty switch that drives it to grow, and two pills, a BRAF inhibitor with a MEK inhibitor, can shut that switch off and shrink the cancer within weeks. Immunotherapy is usually given first because its effect lasts longer, and the pills are kept for later or given for a year after surgery to prevent relapse."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Renal cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/rcc/","tip":"Kidney cancer is where anti-angiogenic drugs and immunotherapy came together, and where a Nobel-winning oxygen-sensing pathway yielded a drug, belzutifan."}],"tags":[{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"michael-migden","name":"Michael R. Migden","tldr":"Houston dermatologist who led the trials that established cemiplimab, the first drug approved for advanced cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma, and sonidegib for basal cell carcinoma.","route":"/people/michael-migden/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, MD Anderson Cancer Center · MD Anderson Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Locally advanced and metastatic basal cell carcinoma","Skin cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/advanced-cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown beyond what surgery or radiotherapy can remove or has spread to lymph nodes or organs. Because sun damage gives it more mutations than almost any other cancer, immunotherapy works well: cemiplimab or pembrolizumab shrinks about half of tumours, often for years, and cemiplimab before surgery can make large tumours vanish."},{"label":"Locally advanced and metastatic basal cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/locally-advanced-bcc/","tip":"Locally advanced basal cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown so large or deep, usually on the face, that surgery or radiotherapy can no longer remove it without unacceptable damage. Almost all these tumours depend on the hedgehog growth pathway, and the pills vismodegib and sonidegib shrink about four in ten of them; cemiplimab is used when the pills fail or cannot be tolerated."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"skin","href":"/tagged/skin/","tip":"Every record tagged skin."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"nai-kong-cheung","name":"Nai-Kong V. Cheung","tldr":"Developed the anti-GD2 antibodies 3F8 and naxitamab that treat relapsed neuroblastoma.","route":"/people/nai-kong-cheung/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Enid A. Haupt Chair in Pediatric Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Neuroblastoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Neuroblastoma","href":"/cancers/neuroblastoma/","tip":"Neuroblastoma is a childhood nerve-cell cancer where anti-GD2 antibodies and, recently, GD2 CAR-T have improved survival in high-risk disease."}],"tags":[{"label":"paediatric","href":"/tagged/paediatric/","tip":"Every record tagged paediatric."},{"label":"neuroblastoma","href":"/tagged/neuroblastoma/","tip":"Every record tagged neuroblastoma."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"neil-gross","name":"Neil D. Gross","tldr":"Houston surgeon who led the trial showing that giving cemiplimab before surgery can eliminate cutaneous squamous-cell carcinoma in about half of patients, sparing many from extensive operations.","route":"/people/neil-gross/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head and neck surgeon, MD Anderson Cancer Center · MD Anderson Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Skin cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/advanced-cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a skin cancer that has grown beyond what surgery or radiotherapy can remove or has spread to lymph nodes or organs. Because sun damage gives it more mutations than almost any other cancer, immunotherapy works well: cemiplimab or pembrolizumab shrinks about half of tumours, often for years, and cemiplimab before surgery can make large tumours vanish."},{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"skin","href":"/tagged/skin/","tip":"Every record tagged skin."},{"label":"surgery","href":"/tagged/surgery/","tip":"Every record tagged surgery."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"nicoletta-colombo","name":"Nicoletta Colombo","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-826, which made pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy the first-line standard for recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.","route":"/people/nicoletta-colombo/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director of Gynaecologic Oncology, European Institute of Oncology (IEO), Milan; Professor, University of Milan-Bicocca · IEO (European Institute of Oncology)","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Cervical cancer","Ovarian cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Cervical cancer","href":"/cancers/cervical/","tip":"A cancer that could be eliminated by HPV vaccination and screening. For those who develop it, immunotherapy and a tissue-factor ADC have improved survival."},{"label":"Ovarian cancer","href":"/cancers/ovarian/","tip":"Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease."}],"tags":[{"label":"cervical","href":"/tagged/cervical/","tip":"Every record tagged cervical."},{"label":"guidelines","href":"/tagged/guidelines/","tip":"Every record tagged guidelines."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"paolo-ascierto","name":"Paolo A. Ascierto","tldr":"Italian melanoma oncologist who co-led CheckMate 238, CheckMate 067 and the COLUMBUS BRAF/MEK trial.","route":"/people/paolo-ascierto/","kind":"person","logo":"/portraits/paolo-ascierto.png","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director, Unit of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Development Therapeutics, Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione Pascale, Naples · Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione G. Pascale","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"italy","href":"/tagged/italy/","tip":"Every record tagged italy."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"paul-baas","name":"Paul Baas","tldr":"Led CheckMate 743, the trial that gave mesothelioma its first new first-line therapy in 16 years.","route":"/people/paul-baas/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Thoracic Oncologist, Netherlands Cancer Institute; Professor, University of Amsterdam · Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI-AvL)","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Mesothelioma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Mesothelioma","href":"/cancers/mesothelioma/","tip":"An asbestos-caused cancer of the lung lining. Immunotherapy doublets replaced chemotherapy in 2020, and mesothelin CAR-T is under study."}],"tags":[{"label":"mesothelioma","href":"/tagged/mesothelioma/","tip":"Every record tagged mesothelioma."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"peter-johnson","name":"Peter Johnson","tldr":"Southampton lymphoma specialist who led the RATHL trial of PET-guided therapy in Hodgkin lymphoma and serves as NHS England's National Clinical Director for Cancer.","route":"/people/peter-johnson/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medical Oncology · University Hospital Southampton / Centre for Cancer Immunology","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Hodgkin lymphoma","Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Hodgkin lymphoma","href":"/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/","tip":"Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the most curable cancers, where the goal is now to cure with less toxicity, using brentuximab and, from 2026, first-line nivolumab."},{"label":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","href":"/cancers/dlbcl/","tip":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive but curable lymphoma. CAR-T cures about 40% of relapsed patients, and off-the-shelf bispecifics are now approved."}],"tags":[{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"lymphoma","href":"/tagged/lymphoma/","tip":"Every record tagged lymphoma."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"peter-schmid","name":"Peter Schmid","tldr":"Led KEYNOTE-522 and IMpassion130, the trials that brought immunotherapy into triple-negative breast cancer.","route":"/people/peter-schmid/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Cancer Medicine and Lead, Centre for Experimental Cancer Medicine, Barts Cancer Institute · Barts Cancer Institute / Barts Health NHS Trust","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Triple-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."}],"tags":[{"label":"tnbc","href":"/tagged/tnbc/","tip":"Every record tagged tnbc."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"philippe-armand","name":"Philippe Armand","tldr":"Boston lymphoma doctor who led KEYNOTE-170, the trial that showed pembrolizumab can control relapsed primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and who helped bring PD-1 blockade to Hodgkin lymphoma.","route":"/people/philippe-armand/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Lymphoma specialist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute · Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma","Non-Hodgkin lymphoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma","href":"/cancers/primary-mediastinal-b-cell-lymphoma/","tip":"Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma is a fast-growing lymphoma of the thymus behind the breastbone that mostly affects young women. Immunochemotherapy cures about nine in ten, radiotherapy can now be skipped when the end-of-treatment scan is clear, and PD-1 antibodies and CAR-T cells rescue many of those who relapse."},{"label":"Non-Hodgkin lymphoma","href":"/cancers/non-hodgkin-lymphoma/","tip":"Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is not one disease but a family of about sixty cancers of B cells, T cells or NK cells, from slow-growing follicular lymphoma to aggressive diffuse large B-cell and Burkitt lymphomas. This page is the map; each subtype has its own page with its own treatment."}],"tags":[{"label":"lymphoma","href":"/tagged/lymphoma/","tip":"Every record tagged lymphoma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"quincy-chu","name":"Quincy Chu","tldr":"Edmonton oncologist who was lead author of KEYNOTE-483 (CCTG IND.227), the trial that showed adding pembrolizumab to chemotherapy lengthens survival in pleural mesothelioma.","route":"/people/quincy-chu/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Medical oncologist, Cross Cancer Institute and University of Alberta, Edmonton · Cancer Care Alberta (Alberta Health Services)","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Pleural mesothelioma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pleural mesothelioma","href":"/cancers/pleural-mesothelioma/","tip":"Pleural mesothelioma grows in the lining of the lung after asbestos exposure and causes breathlessness and chest pain from fluid and thickening. It is rarely curable; the first-line choice is nivolumab with ipilimumab or pembrolizumab with chemotherapy, and surgery to remove the lining is no longer recommended outside trials."}],"tags":[{"label":"mesothelioma","href":"/tagged/mesothelioma/","tip":"Every record tagged mesothelioma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ralf-gutzmer","name":"Ralf Gutzmer","tldr":"German dermato-oncologist who was lead author of IMspire150, the trial that added atezolizumab to vemurafenib and cobimetinib in BRAF-mutant melanoma.","route":"/people/ralf-gutzmer/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Dermato-oncologist and trial lead","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["BRAF V600-mutant melanoma","Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"BRAF V600-mutant melanoma","href":"/cancers/braf-v600-melanoma/","tip":"BRAF V600-mutant melanoma has a single faulty switch that drives it to grow, and two pills, a BRAF inhibitor with a MEK inhibitor, can shut that switch off and shrink the cancer within weeks. Immunotherapy is usually given first because its effect lasts longer, and the pills are kept for later or given for a year after surgery to prevent relapse."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"melanoma","href":"/tagged/melanoma/","tip":"Every record tagged melanoma."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ralph-weichselbaum","name":"Ralph Weichselbaum","tldr":"Radiation oncologist at the University of Chicago known for the oligometastasis concept and for research linking radiation with anti-tumour immunity.","route":"/people/ralph-weichselbaum/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Executive Committee Member · University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"radiotherapy","href":"/tagged/radiotherapy/","tip":"Every record tagged radiotherapy."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ramez-eskander","name":"Ramez N. Eskander","tldr":"Led NRG-GY018, which showed pembrolizumab with chemotherapy helps advanced endometrial cancer in both MMR-deficient and proficient disease.","route":"/people/ramez-eskander/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center · UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Endometrial cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Endometrial cancer","href":"/cancers/endometrial/","tip":"The gynaecological cancer where immunotherapy has had the biggest impact, guided by molecular classification."}],"tags":[{"label":"endometrial","href":"/tagged/endometrial/","tip":"Every record tagged endometrial."},{"label":"nrg-oncology","href":"/tagged/nrg-oncology/","tip":"Every record tagged nrg-oncology."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"rebecca-auer","name":"Rebecca Auer","tldr":"Cancer surgeon and scientist who leads research and innovation at The Ottawa Hospital and its research institute.","route":"/people/rebecca-auer/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Executive Vice-President, Research and Innovation, The Ottawa Hospital / Ottawa Hospital Research Institute · The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre / Ottawa Hospital Research Institute","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely, yet most metastatic disease still depends on chemotherapy."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"surgical-oncology","href":"/tagged/surgical-oncology/","tip":"Every record tagged surgical-oncology."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"robert-ferris","name":"Robert L. Ferris","tldr":"Surgeon and immunologist who led CheckMate 141, the trial that made nivolumab the first drug to lengthen survival in head and neck cancer after platinum failure, and E3311 on transoral surgery for HPV-positive throat cancer.","route":"/people/robert-ferris/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Head and neck surgeon and Director, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center · UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer","Oropharyngeal cancer","Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/recurrent-metastatic-hnscc/","tip":"When head and neck cancer comes back where it cannot be removed, or spreads elsewhere, it is treated to extend life rather than cure: pembrolizumab, alone or with chemotherapy, is the first choice, cetuximab-based regimens and cheap oral chemotherapy are alternatives, and antibodies that hit two targets at once are in late-stage trials."},{"label":"HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer","href":"/cancers/hpv-positive-oropharyngeal-cancer/","tip":"Throat cancers caused by HPV are usually cured with chemoradiation or robotic surgery, so trials now ask how much treatment can be taken away: swapping cisplatin for cetuximab failed, cutting the radiation dose has worked only after surgery so far, and blood tests for HPV DNA may pick out the patients who can safely have less."},{"label":"Oropharyngeal cancer","href":"/cancers/oropharyngeal-cancer/","tip":"Cancer of the tonsils and back of the tongue, a head and neck cancer, now comes mostly from HPV infection rather than smoking, and behaves like a different disease: it responds well to chemoradiation, most patients are cured, and the research question is how much treatment can safely be removed."},{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"head-and-neck","href":"/tagged/head-and-neck/","tip":"Every record tagged head-and-neck."},{"label":"surgery","href":"/tagged/surgery/","tip":"Every record tagged surgery."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"robin-kate-kelley","name":"Robin Kate Kelley","tldr":"San Francisco oncologist who was lead author of KEYNOTE-966, which showed that adding pembrolizumab to gemcitabine and cisplatin helps people with advanced bile duct cancer live longer.","route":"/people/robin-kate-kelley/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Gastrointestinal oncologist, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center · UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma","Biliary tract cancer","Hepatocellular carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/intrahepatic-cholangiocarcinoma/","tip":"Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma starts in the small bile ducts inside the liver and usually appears as a liver mass rather than causing jaundice. It is the biliary cancer with the most drug targets: FGFR2 fusions treated with pemigatinib or futibatinib, IDH1 mutations with ivosidenib, and for everyone chemotherapy with the immunotherapy durvalumab or pembrolizumab."},{"label":"Biliary tract cancer","href":"/cancers/biliary-tract-cancer/","tip":"Biliary tract cancers arise in the bile ducts inside or outside the liver, the gallbladder or the ampulla where the duct meets the bowel. They share a poor outlook and the same first-line chemotherapy with immunotherapy, but differ in causes and in the targetable mutations they carry. Each has its own page."},{"label":"Hepatocellular carcinoma","href":"/cancers/hcc/","tip":"Liver cancer almost always grows in a liver already damaged by hepatitis, alcohol or fatty liver disease. It is one of the most preventable cancers, and since 2020 immunotherapy combinations have roughly doubled how long people with advanced disease live."}],"tags":[{"label":"biliary","href":"/tagged/biliary/","tip":"Every record tagged biliary."},{"label":"hcc","href":"/tagged/hcc/","tip":"Every record tagged hcc."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ronan-kelly","name":"Ronan J. Kelly","tldr":"Led CheckMate 577, the first trial to show adjuvant immunotherapy helps oesophageal cancer patients with residual disease.","route":"/people/ronan-kelly/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director, Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas · Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Oesophageal cancer","Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Oesophageal cancer","href":"/cancers/esophageal/","tip":"Oesophageal cancer is really two diseases sharing one organ: squamous cell carcinoma, which dominates in Asia, and adenocarcinoma, which dominates in the West and is treated like gastric cancer. Immunotherapy is now standard, and the bispecific ADC iza-bren posted a positive phase 3 in the squamous type in 2026."},{"label":"Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","href":"/cancers/gastric/","tip":"A cancer with three new targets in five years: Claudin 18.2, FGFR2b, and HER2 with new ADCs, plus immunotherapy in first line."}],"tags":[{"label":"esophageal","href":"/tagged/esophageal/","tip":"Every record tagged esophageal."},{"label":"adjuvant","href":"/tagged/adjuvant/","tip":"Every record tagged adjuvant."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"roy-herbst","name":"Roy S. Herbst","tldr":"Lung cancer trialist behind KEYNOTE-010 and the ADAURA adjuvant osimertinib trial.","route":"/people/roy-herbst/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Deputy Director and Chief of Medical Oncology, Yale Cancer Center · Yale Cancer Center / Smilow Cancer Hospital","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"lung","href":"/tagged/lung/","tip":"Every record tagged lung."},{"label":"adjuvant","href":"/tagged/adjuvant/","tip":"Every record tagged adjuvant."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"sandra-demaria","name":"Sandra Demaria","tldr":"Weill Cornell pathologist-immunologist known for radiation-immunotherapy research; SITC Vice President.","route":"/people/sandra-demaria/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Vice President (2025-2026) · Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."}],"tags":[{"label":"leadership","href":"/tagged/leadership/","tip":"Every record tagged leadership."},{"label":"clinician-scientist","href":"/tagged/clinician-scientist/","tip":"Every record tagged clinician-scientist."},{"label":"radiotherapy","href":"/tagged/radiotherapy/","tip":"Every record tagged radiotherapy."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"scott-antonia","name":"Scott J. Antonia","tldr":"Led PACIFIC, which made a year of durvalumab after chemoradiation the standard for stage III lung cancer.","route":"/people/scott-antonia/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director, Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Duke Cancer Institute · Duke Cancer Institute","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","Small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/sclc/","tip":"A fast-growing lung cancer that responds to chemotherapy then relapses quickly. After 30 years without progress, T-cell engagers and ADCs are finally moving the needle."}],"tags":[{"label":"lung","href":"/tagged/lung/","tip":"Every record tagged lung."},{"label":"stage-iii","href":"/tagged/stage-iii/","tip":"Every record tagged stage-iii."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"shailender-bhatia","name":"Shailender Bhatia","tldr":"Seattle oncologist who led STAMP, the trial that showed pembrolizumab after surgery reduces recurrence of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer.","route":"/people/shailender-bhatia/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Medical oncologist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and University of Washington · Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Merkel cell carcinoma","Skin cancer","Melanoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Merkel cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/merkel-cell-carcinoma/","tip":"Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare, fast-growing skin cancer, usually caused by a common virus (Merkel cell polyomavirus) or by sun damage. It was almost untreatable once it spread; PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy now gives lasting responses in about half of patients."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."}],"tags":[{"label":"skin","href":"/tagged/skin/","tip":"Every record tagged skin."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"sumit-gupta","name":"Sumit Gupta","tldr":"Led COG AALL1731, which showed adding blinatumomab to chemotherapy improves survival for children with standard-risk leukaemia.","route":"/people/sumit-gupta/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Staff Oncologist and Senior Scientist, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto · The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","href":"/cancers/all-leukemia/","tip":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the childhood cancer success story, and was the first disease treated with CAR-T and with a T-cell engager."}],"tags":[{"label":"paediatric","href":"/tagged/paediatric/","tip":"Every record tagged paediatric."},{"label":"all","href":"/tagged/all/","tip":"Every record tagged all."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"thierry-andre","name":"Thierry André","tldr":"Led MOSAIC, which made FOLFOX the adjuvant standard, and KEYNOTE-177, which made pembrolizumab first-line for MSI-high colon cancer.","route":"/people/thierry-andre/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Medical Oncology, Sorbonne University; Head of Medical Oncology, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris · Institut Universitaire de Cancérologie AP-HP Sorbonne Université","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely, yet most metastatic disease still depends on chemotherapy."}],"tags":[{"label":"colorectal","href":"/tagged/colorectal/","tip":"Every record tagged colorectal."},{"label":"adjuvant","href":"/tagged/adjuvant/","tip":"Every record tagged adjuvant."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"thomas-gajewski","name":"Thomas F. Gajewski","tldr":"Defined the T-cell-inflamed tumour, discovered STING's role in anti-tumour immunity and showed gut bacteria shape immunotherapy response.","route":"/people/thomas-gajewski/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"AbbVie Foundation Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy, University of Chicago · University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"microbiome","href":"/tagged/microbiome/","tip":"Every record tagged microbiome."},{"label":"sting","href":"/tagged/sting/","tip":"Every record tagged sting."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"timothy-cloughesy","name":"Timothy F. Cloughesy","tldr":"Neuro-oncologist whose neoadjuvant PD-1 trial showed immunotherapy before surgery can activate immune responses in glioblastoma.","route":"/people/timothy-cloughesy/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Director, UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program · UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Glioma & glioblastoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Glioma & glioblastoma","href":"/cancers/glioblastoma/","tip":"Gliomas are now diagnosed by molecular class, and three classes got their first targeted drugs in 2024-25 (vorasidenib for IDH-mutant glioma, tovorafenib for BRAF-altered paediatric glioma, dordaviprone for H3 K27M). Glioblastoma itself is the hardest to treat and has kept the same standard since 2005; CAR-T delivered into the brain and focused-ultrasound drug delivery are the live directions."}],"tags":[{"label":"glioma","href":"/tagged/glioma/","tip":"Every record tagged glioma."},{"label":"neoadjuvant","href":"/tagged/neoadjuvant/","tip":"Every record tagged neoadjuvant."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"tina-cascone","name":"Tina Cascone","tldr":"Led CheckMate 77T, one of the perioperative immunotherapy trials that changed how operable lung cancer is treated.","route":"/people/tina-cascone/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Associate Professor of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center · MD Anderson Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"lung","href":"/tagged/lung/","tip":"Every record tagged lung."},{"label":"neoadjuvant","href":"/tagged/neoadjuvant/","tip":"Every record tagged neoadjuvant."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ugur-sahin","name":"Uğur Şahin","tldr":"Immunologist who built individualised mRNA neoantigen vaccines for cancer, the platform later used for COVID-19.","route":"/people/ugur-sahin/","kind":"person","logo":"/portraits/ugur-sahin.jpg","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Professor of Translational Oncology, University Medical Center Mainz; Co-founder and CEO, BioNTech · University Cancer Center Mainz (UCT Mainz) / Universitätsmedizin Mainz","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Melanoma","Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."}],"tags":[{"label":"vaccine","href":"/tagged/vaccine/","tip":"Every record tagged vaccine."},{"label":"mrna","href":"/tagged/mrna/","tip":"Every record tagged mrna."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"vicky-makker","name":"Vicky Makker","tldr":"New York oncologist who led KEYNOTE-775, the trial that established lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab for advanced endometrial cancer after chemotherapy.","route":"/people/vicky-makker/","kind":"person","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Gynaecologic medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer","Endometrial cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer","href":"/cancers/advanced-recurrent-endometrial-cancer/","tip":"Advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer has spread beyond the uterus or come back after treatment. Chemotherapy plus an immune checkpoint antibody is now the first treatment for everyone, with the biggest gains in mismatch-repair-deficient tumours, and lenvatinib with pembrolizumab is the standard when platinum chemotherapy stops working."},{"label":"Endometrial cancer","href":"/cancers/endometrial/","tip":"The gynaecological cancer where immunotherapy has had the biggest impact, guided by molecular classification."}],"tags":[{"label":"endometrial","href":"/tagged/endometrial/","tip":"Every record tagged endometrial."},{"label":"gynaecological","href":"/tagged/gynaecological/","tip":"Every record tagged gynaecological."},{"label":"trialist","href":"/tagged/trialist/","tip":"Every record tagged trialist."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"vinod-balachandran","name":"Vinod P. Balachandran","tldr":"Surgeon-scientist whose personalised mRNA vaccine trial showed pancreatic cancer can provoke lasting T-cell immunity.","route":"/people/vinod-balachandran/","kind":"person","logo":"/portraits/vinod-balachandran.jpg","round":true,"avatar":"person","sub":"Surgical Oncologist and Member, Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center","facets":{"kind":["Person"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Person","tip":"The clinicians and scientists doing the work: specialisms, bios, papers, and where to find them."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."}],"tags":[{"label":"pancreatic","href":"/tagged/pancreatic/","tip":"Every record tagged pancreatic."},{"label":"vaccine","href":"/tagged/vaccine/","tip":"Every record tagged vaccine."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}}]