Carl H. June, MD, to receive AACR lifetime achievement award
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Carl H. June, MD, will receive this year’s AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research.
The award — which will be presented during American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, scheduled for April 14-19 in Orlando — recognizes individuals who made significant fundamental contributions to cancer research, either through a single scientific discovery or a collective body of work.
June is Richard W. Vague professor in immunotherapy, director of Center for Cellular Immunotherapies and director of Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. He also is a fellow of the AACR Academy.
The award recognizes June’s role as one of the inventors of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. His research helped contribute to the development of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah, Novartis), which in 2017 became the first genetically modified cellular therapy to receive FDA approval with an indication for younger individuals with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Research from June’s laboratory continues to inform the oncology field regarding the clinical application of cellular therapy for other malignancies, in addition to investigating uses outside of oncology.
“Dr. June is a trailblazer in the field of cancer immunotherapy whose scientific expertise and vision for the field have been crucial to pivotal scientific discoveries that have improved and saved many lives from cancer,” Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of AACR, said in a press release.
“His work has transformed the treatment of hematologic malignancies and holds great promise for many other types of cancer,” Foti added. “We are grateful for Dr. June’s numerous scientific contributions and are thrilled to recognize him with this prestigious award.”
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