Prasad Adusumilli, MD

Deputy Chief and Associate Attending, Thoracic Sur Director at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

My laboratory research, supported by NIH R01 and DoD awards, focuses on tumor immunology and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy for cancers. We have developed clinically relevant solid tumor models (in vivo and ex vivo) and investigated regional delivery of biological therapies including oncolytic viruses and immune cells in these models. This research has yielded mechanistic data that has been translated to clinical trials. I oversee ongoing clinical research efforts on combination immunotherapy to reactivate both CAR T-cell and endogenous immunity by use of cell-intrinsic and extrinsic checkpoint blockade strategies; strategies to incorporate chemo- and radiation therapy to augment immunotherapy are in translation. With our laboratory expertise in successfully obtaining IND approvals, product licensing; we work closely with biotech industry and are poised to initiate new adoptive cell therapy trials.

I am the Deputy Chief of thoracic surgery service and Vice Chair of Dept. of Surgery at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. In addition, I am the Head of Solid Tumor Cell Therapy in the Cellular Therapeutics Center, and the Director of Mesothelioma Program.