Issue: February 2021

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November 28, 2020
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SITC creates endowed scholars fund, announces inaugural recipient

Issue: February 2021
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The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer created the Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, Endowed Scholars Fund.

Rosenberg is chief of surgery at NCI. He oversees a broad clinical program to translate scientific advances into effective immunotherapy for people with cancer.

Steven Rosenberg
Steven A. Rosenberg

Rosenberg helped pioneer the first effective gene therapies and immunotherapies for patients with advanced cancer, and his research into cell transfer immunotherapy identified strategies to induce durable complete remission among individuals with melanoma.

The endowed scholars fund recognizes Rosenberg’s contributions to the field by supporting investigators who are emerging leaders in immuno-oncology and are focused on novel approaches to advancing cancer immunotherapy.

Patrick Hwu, MD
Patrick Hwu

“Through his lab at the NCI, Dr. Rosenberg has engaged with hundreds of scientists, both young and old,” Patrick Hwu, MD, vice president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), said in a press release. “He has focused on creating a whole new way to approach cancer through immune cells. His work is inspiring a whole new generation of physician scientists to put the patient first, tackle the tough problems and never give up.”

Eric Tran, PhD, assistant member of the antitumor T-cell response laboratory at Earle A. Chiles Research Institute — a division of Providence Cancer Institute — received the inaugural Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg Scholars Award for Cancer Immunotherapy Research during the society’s virtual annual meeting in November.

Eric Tran, PhD
Eric Tran

Tran, who trained at NCI with Rosenberg, has considerable experience evaluating the T-cell response against tumor neoantigens, as well as in the use of translational and clinical adoptive T-cell therapy against cancer.

His research demonstrated that neoantigens that arise from patient-specific somatic mutations are a major class of antigens targeted by tumor-infiltrating T cells among most patients with epithelial cancers.