Dr Jimeno is a Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and clinically leads the Head and Neck Clinical (HNC) Program, with an active portfolio of clinical trials investigating relevant targets to modulate immunity and the microenvironment in HNC. In the laboratory he leads a group focusing on cancer stem cell (CSC) biology and the development of advanced humanized animal models. His main projects include studying how HNC regulate key immune ligands deploying autologous humanized models of HNC patients, to investigate susceptibility to immune modulation and immune evasion mechanisms. His work on humanized models has generated new avenues in oral cancer and melanoma to generate matched autologous models with cancer, immune, and thymic cells from the same patient enabling T cell education and full immune capacity. Overall, his work furthers understanding of cancer and microenvironment interactions and the development of increasingly powerful and complex models.