Ludwig Cancer Research is a global community of leading scientists pursuing innovative ways to prevent and control cancer. From basic research to clinical trials, in individual laboratories or as part of international teams, our researchers are tackling the hardest questions, spotting the connections and the possibilities. At Ludwig, we test our work against the one measure that matters — improving human health. Ludwig Cancer Research is a global community of leading scientists pursuing innovative ways to prevent and control cancer. From basic research to clinical trials, in individual laboratories or as part of international teams, our researchers are tackling the hardest questions, spotting the connections and the possibilities. At Ludwig, we test our work against the one measure that matters — improving human health.

  My research focuses on developing and implementing new ways to use the immune system to treat cancer. I am promoting the advent of combination immunotherapeutic treatment for patients with advanced melanoma. I was instrumental in the clinical development leading to the approval of ipilimumab for advanced melanoma. I am a medical oncologist who serves as the Director of the Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and the Associate Director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at MSK with expertise in metastatic melanoma. I began my science career in 1984 as an undergraduate at Princeton University when I worked as part of MSK's Summer Research Program with Dr. Alan Houghton. After receiving my MD and PhD from New York University, I returned to MSK to enter its fellowship program in 1996. In 2000 I was appointed to the MSK faculty. In addition to my Ludwig appointments, I am an Associate Attending Physician; Head of the Swim Across America Laboratory; and Director of Immunotherapy Clinical Trials, all at MSK. I am also the Director of the joint Ludwig/CRI CVC trials network, dedicated to developing safe and effective therapeutic vaccines and other immunotherapies for cancer. The network has conducted nearly 50 early phase clinical trials of different therapeutic cancer vaccines involving more than 950 patients with melanoma, lung, ovarian, prostate, breast and other cancers. Over the past 10 years I have been an active mentor of medical and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and I am the Director of the Summer Medical Student Program and co-Director of the Medical Oncology-Hematology Fellowship Program at MSK. Achievements Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Award Julia Zelmanovich Young Alumni Award by New York University School of Medicine Humanitarian Awards granted by the Melanoma Research Foundation and the Live, Love, Laugh Foundation and the Doctor of the Year by the Melanoma International Foundation Member, AACR, ASCO, SU2C Melanoma Dream Team I have recently been named the incumbent of the Lloyd J. Old Chair for Clinical Investigation (formerly known as the Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair for Clinical Investigation.