Immuno-oncology is the hottest area of cancer research and drug development, with recent successes having spawned a modern-day gold rush of activity.  Join the MITCNC Life Science Forum to learn about this important area of medical research.

The concept of destroying cancerous tumors by harnessing the immune system dates back to 1891, when Dr. William Coley observed some benefit by injecting patients with toxic bacteria.  However, it has only been recently that therapies targeting the immune system have proven clinically successful.

Lawrence Fong, MD, is the Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in Cancer Biology at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center where he leads the Cancer Immunotherapy Program.  He is also Co-Director of the Parker Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy @ UCSF.

Dr. Fong obtained his BA from Columbia and MD from Stanford.  He completed internal medicine training at the University of Washington, and oncology fellowship and post-doctoral training at Stanford.  He then moved to UCSF as an assistant professor in 2002.

He is an elected member of Alpha Omega Alpha and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.  He has served on multiple NIH study sections and committees including the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee (IDSC), and NCI Genitourinary Cancers Steering Committee (GUSC). He has also served on multiple editorial boards including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of Immunotherapy of Cancer, and Cancer Immunology Research.