I am a medical oncologist and cancer immunologist with a clinical interest in lymphoma and a research focus on immune escape mechanisms in blood cancers. I was the first to demonstrate the role of PD-1/PD-L1 interactions in promoting T cell dysfunction in pre-clinical acute leukemia models - a discovery that directly catalyzed clinical trials testing the efficacy of PD-1 blockade therapy in leukemia patients. I have identified novel mechanisms of immune evasion in leukemia driven by the innate immune system and showed that activation of innate immunity with anti-CD40 antibody and STING agonist immunotherapies is highly effective in murine leukemia models. As evidence of my dedication to developing effective immunotherapies for hematologic malignancies, I serve on the task force that develops immunotherapy guidelines for patients with lymphoma. I have witnessed first-hand the effectiveness of immunotherapies, including PD-1 blockade, CD47 blockade, and CAR T cell therapy in lymphoma patients, and continue to be involved in the clinical development of these agents for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas. I have developed strong collaborations with industry partners to study mechanisms of immunotherapy response and resistance in pre-clinical models and in patient samples. In parallel, and through funding from the NCI, V Foundation for Cancer Research, Cancer Research Institute, and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I have identified potential predictive biomarkers of response to anti-PD-1 therapy in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and have identified a subset of aggressive lymphomas that are refractory to CAR T cell therapy. My current work is focused on defining mechanisms by which recurrent oncogenic mutations in lymphoma cells impact the local immune microenvironment, and to develop an “immune score” for DLBCL that may effectively predict which patients will and will not respond to immunotherapies such as PD-1 blockade and CAR T cell therapy.