Philip D. Greenberg

Philip D. Greenberg, MD is Head of the Program in Immunology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Washington. He is one of the founding fathers of adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) for cancer, with seminal contributions spanning more than four decades. His laboratory produced some of the earliest demonstrations that ex vivo expanded tumor-reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) could be adoptively transferred to eradicate established tumors in mouse models and in clinical settings, establishing the conceptual and practical framework for ACT. Dr. Greenberg has pioneered TCR engineering approaches in which T cells are genetically modified to express tumor-antigen-specific TCRs with enhanced affinity, enabling targeting of intracellular tumor antigens — an area of particular importance for solid tumor therapy where surface antigen targets are limited. His group has contributed extensively to understanding the principles governing ex vivo T cell expansion, persistence after infusion, and the barriers to T cell efficacy in solid tumors including the immunosuppressive TME and exhaustion. He has been a key figure in translating TCR-T cell therapy from bench to bedside and has trained many of the leaders in the cellular therapy field. Dr. Greenberg has published more than 350 papers and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.