Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD
Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD
Dr. Pardoll is an Abeloff Professor of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology and Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the founding Director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Director of the Cancer Immunology Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Pardoll attended Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his M.D.-Ph.D., in 1982 and completed his Medical Residency and Oncology Fellowship in 1985. He then worked for three years at the National Institutes of Health as a Medical Staff Fellow. Dr. Pardoll has published more than 450 papers, collectively cited over 170,000 times, as well as over 20 book chapters on the subject of T cell immunology and cancer immunotherapy. He is a member of the National Academy of Inventors and the National Academy of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Cancer Research and the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Cell and has served as a member of scientific advisory boards for the Cancer Research Institute, the American Association of Clinical Oncology, the American Association of Cancer Research, the University of Pennsylvania Human Gene Therapy Gene Institute, Biologic Resources Branch of the National Cancer Institute, Harvard-Dana Farber Cancer Center, as well as 12 biotechnology companies, J&J and Amgen. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Clasp Therapeutics and Dracen therapeutics. Dr. Pardoll is a founder of 10 companies over the past decade. He holds roughly 80 patents. Dr. Pardoll has made a number of fundamental advances in cellular immunology, including the discovery of gamma-delta T cells, NKT cells and interferon-producing killer dendritic cells. Over the past two decades, Dr. Pardoll has studied molecular aspects of dendritic cell biology and immune regulation, particularly related to mechanisms by which cancer cells evade elimination by the immune system. These include the discovery of PD-L2, one of two ligands for PD-1, and the T cell checkpoints LAG3 and PVRIG, leading to ongoing clinical development of blocking antibodies to these molecules. He also identified two key molecules – YAP and ActivinR1c – as key inducers of Treg suppression, leading to programs to inhibit these clinically. He also elucidated the role of Stat3 signaling in tumor immune evasion and in Th17 development, leading to the discovery that Stat3-driven Th17 responses promote carcinogenesis. Stat3 antisense drugs are currently in clinical testing. He was one of the leaders of the pioneering clinical trials that established the anti-cancer activity of antibodies blocking the PD-1 pathway; the marketed anti-PD-1/L1/L2 antibodies now collectively generate $45-50 billion in revenue per year. The first anti-LAG3 antibody was FDA approved and is expected to generate $3-4 billion in revenue by 2026.