Dear colleagues,
Please join me in congratulating Thomas Gajewski, MD, PhD, for being selected by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) as the recipient of the 2019 ESMO Immuno-Oncology Award. He is being honored for his groundbreaking work uncovering why some patients are resistant to immunotherapy and how to restore the anti-cancer immune response.
Dr. Gajewski has been on faculty since 1997 and is currently the Abbvie Foundation Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research and Professor of Pathology and Medicine. He also co-leads the UCCCC Immunology and Cancer Research Program.
Among his many scientific accomplishments, he is known for his breakthrough work in the CTLA-4 immune checkpoint in the 1990s and characterization of the T-cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment, discovery of how the Simulator of Interferon Genes (“STING”) signals the body’s innate immune system to attack tumor cells, and showing that specific strains of gut bacteria can improve the response rate to immunotherapy.
Dr. Gajewski will receive the award on Thursday, December 12, 2019, during a dedicated session at the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress in Geneva, Switzerland. He will also give a keynote lecture entitled “Mechanisms of immunotherapy efficacy versus resistance.”
Without a doubt, Dr. Gajewski is a globally recognized leader in oncology research and deserving of this recognition from ESMO. He is also a gifted musician, an entrepreneur, and a wine connoisseur. We are lucky to have him lead our efforts in the promising area of immunotherapy for cancer.
Regards,
Dr. Michelle Le Beau