Philip Greenberg, MD, to Present the 2019 American Society of Hematology E. Donnall Thomas Lecture
Published on: July 12, 2019
(WASHINGTON, July 12, 2019) – The American Society of
Hematology (ASH) will honor Philip Greenberg, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer
Research Center and the University of Washington in Seattle with the 2019 E.
Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize for his outstanding contributions to the field
of immunotherapy.
This lectureship and prize is named after the late Nobel
Prize laureate and past president of ASH, E. Donnall Thomas, MD. The E. Donnall
Thomas Lecture and Prize recognizes pioneering research achievements in
hematology that represent a paradigm shift or significant discovery in the
field.
Dr. Greenberg will present his lecture, The Long Road to Develop
Adoptive Therapy with T Cells That Can Effectively Target Acute Myeloid Leukemia
(AML) and Other Malignancies, on Monday, December 9, at the 61st ASH Annual
Meeting and Exposition in Orlando. This lecture will focus on how T cells have
been engineered to effectively target AML and mediate clinical benefit; how
obtaining high dimensional data using single cell genomics is providing
insights into the reasons for success and failure; and how these studies will
direct the design of the next generation of more effective therapies.
“It is a great honor to receive this prize, and in
particular an award named after E. Donnall Thomas, who was a mentor, colleague,
and friend,” said Dr. Greenberg. “Dr. Thomas recruited me to the research group
at Fred Hutch in 1976, after I had completed training in basic immunology. At
the time, I told him that I thought we would eventually be able to do away with
bone marrow transplantation and replace it with T cells that specifically
target cancer. Now, we are getting increasingly close to making that rather
brash statement a reality.”
Dr. Greenberg is recognized
internationally for his pioneering contributions to the development of T cell
adoptive immune therapy, the process by which T cells are equipped with
receptors that target and eradicate disease cells. He is known for having established the concept
– as well as the associated methods and technologies – of isolating antigen-specific
T cells in the laboratory and reproducing them to the numbers needed to be able
to observe in vivo their activity for
targeting a malignancy. This work, which
began in the 1970s, has allowed researchers to explore the biology of the cells
in detail to better understand how they function, as well as what obstacles may
interfere with their activity. These studies began in animal models and then
progressed to treating patients with severe viral infections as proof of
principle. Currently, Dr. Greenberg’s
team is using this approach to target acute myeloid leukemia, as well as solid
tumors, in clinical trials.
Dr. Greenberg is a member and head of the Program in
Immunology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is also a professor of
medicine and immunology at the University of Washington. He has trained many internationally
recognized leaders in the field of cellular immune therapy and continues to mentor
the next generation, with numerous prominent mentees. He was the recipient of
the 2011 Cancer Research Institute’s William B. Coley Award for distinguished
research in tumor immunology, and elected in 2019 as a fellow of the American
Association of Cancer Research and distinguished fellow of the American
Association of Immunologists. Additionally, he has published 284 peer-reviewed
publications and chapters, most of which are in high-impact journals such as Blood,
New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature Medicine, and Nature
Communications.
“CAR T cell therapy strategies would not be as advanced today
without the vision, creativity, and scientific rigor of Dr. Greenberg and his research
team, and he continues to innovate and lead the evolution of these therapies,” said
2019 ASH President Roy Silverstein, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin in
Milwaukee.
The American Society of Hematology (ASH)
(www.hematology.org) is the world’s largest professional society of
hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment,
and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. For 60 years, the Society has
led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient
care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. ASH publishes Blood (www.bloodjournal.org),
the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field, which is available
weekly in print and online, as well as the newly launched, online, peer-reviewed
open-access journal, Blood Advances (www.bloodadvances.org).
Contact:
Sara Khalaf, American Society of Hematology
skhalaf@hematology.org; 202-552-4925
back to top