I am a physician-scientist with clinical expertise in cancer immunotherapy and melanoma. As a cancer immunology researcher, I have trained in the labs of immunotherapy pioneers Drs. Michel Sadelain, Renier Brentjens, Jedd Wolchok, and Jeff Bluestone. I now lead a lab with a research focus on improving checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive T cell therapy using chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to cure metastatic solid tumors. My research expertise is in the design of the next generation of CARs and combination checkpoint immunotherapy using immunocompetent mouse models that best mimic the clinic, in the setting of a tolerant/suppressive tumor microenvironment in solid malignancies and cancer metastasis.

Translating recent advancements in cellular cancer immunotherapy to metastatic solid tumors has been especially challenging, and this is highlighted by the lack of clinical response outside of the CD19 ideal antigen as the target. Current forms of therapy are likely insufficient to overcome the naturally tolerogenic microenvironment evolved to protect against autoimmunity across organ sites. Using the liver as a model organ of immune tolerance, we discovered the putative mechanisms of tumor escape to checkpoint inhibitor therapy in the setting of liver metastases and are now working on developing strategies to overcome them.

I hope to see cancer immunotherapeutics become a mainstream form of treatment that is capable of providing durable and curative responses for stage IV cancers.


Past Professional Experience:

Clinical Instructor, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY. July 2012-July 2013

Clinical Instructor, University of California, San Francisco, CA. July 2013-July 2014


Education:

Medical School: Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. September 2003-May 2009

Research Fellowship: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY. 2006-2009.

Residency: Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY. July 2009-June 2012


ABIM Board Certifications:

Internal Medicine. 2012

Medical Oncology. 2021