Diabetes Center's James Lee, MD, has been named a recipient of the 2021 Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Early Career Researchers awards, along with five other exceptional scholars from UCSF, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, receiving in total almost $3 million of funding. The goal of the program is to empower ambitious researchers to pursue their boldest ideas to transform the immunotherapy and cell and gene therapy landscape for cancer patients.
“This year’s class of Parker Scholars, Bridge Fellows and Senior Fellows are an exceptional group of young scientists,” said Lisa Butterfield, PhD, Vice President of Research and Development at PICI. “From projects that have historically been strong suits for PICI like T cell exhaustion to new areas like dendritic cells and immune tolerance, these rising stars will enable us to broaden our efforts to turn all cancers into curable diseases.”
James Lee, a medical oncologist specializing in melanoma, focuses on understanding how the spread of cancer to the liver can impact the rest of the immune system, particularly in how they inhibit the efficacy of T-cell based immunotherapy. Lee earned his medical degree at Yale School of Medicine, where he also earned a master's degree in health sciences, with a focus on cancer immunology. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF.
“It’s a great honor to be selected as a new member of the Parker family of immuno-oncology researchers," said Lee, Clinical Fellow in Bluestone lab. "I look forward to future collaborations and advancing cancer care with the world class team of immunotherapy focused scientists.”