Penn professor to be recognized with AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) will recognize Carl H. June, MD, the Richard W. Vague professor in immunotherapy at the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, with the third annual AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, to be held in Philadelphia, April 18-22.

June is being recognized for his important contributions to cancer immunology, specifically his pioneering efforts related to the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. His work with CAR T-cell therapy has significantly enhanced the promise of cancer immunotherapy. For example, a CD19-targeted CAR T cell therapy developed by June and his team was recently licensed by Novartis, and the investigational therapy, now called CTL019, has received breakthrough therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of relapsed and refractory adult and pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This work will not only have a profound impact on the treatment of leukemia but is paving the way for the development of CAR T therapies for other types of cancer.

He will present his lecture, "CAR T cells: Can We Move Beyond B cells?" Tuesday, April 21, 5:30 p.m. ET, in the Grand Ballroom of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology was established in 2013 in honor of the late Lloyd J. Old, MD, who is considered the "Father of Modern Tumor Immunology." Old's outstanding research in the field of cancer immunology, as well as his decades of leadership in fostering the field, had a widespread influence on cancer research. The award is intended to recognize an active cancer immunologist who, like Old, has done outstanding and innovative research in cancer immunology that has had a far-reaching impact on the field.

June, who is an active AACR member and a senior editor of Cancer Immunology Research, has been recognized with numerous honors throughout his career, including the Taubman Prize for Excellence in Translational Medical Science, the Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award from the American Association of Blood Banks, the Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research from the American Association of Immunologists, the Richard V. Smalley Award from the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (shared with James Allison), the Legion of Merit from the U.S. Navy, and election to the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, June had been a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, June served as a U.S. Navy Medical Officer from 1975 to 1996. He received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and completed a research fellowship in immunology with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland and a fellowship in oncology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. June performed his internship and residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.