James P. Allison

James Allison is a co-founder of Jounce Therapeutics and currently serves as chair of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Immunology and director of the Immunotherapy Platform. A leading tumor immunologist, Dr. Allison has a longstanding interest in mechanisms of T-cell development and activation, the development of novel strategies for tumor immunotherapy and is recognized as the first person to isolate the T-cell antigen receptor protein. His research led to the clinical development of ipilimumab (Yervoy™), which was approved in 2011 by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Previously, he was director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and the chair of the immunology program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, as well as the David H. Koch Chair in Immunologic Studies and attending immunologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Allison is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Previously, he served as president of the American Association of Immunologists. He has received numerous awards, including the Centeon Award for Innovative Breakthroughs in Immunology, the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology, the AAI-Dana Award in Human Immunology Research and the C. Chester Stock Award for Distinguished Achievement in Biomedical Research. Dr. Allison recently received an AACR/SU2C/CRI cancer immunotherapy dream team grant, for which he will serve as the Dream Team leader. Dr. Allison received his B.S. in microbiology and his Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Texas.