Stephen Willingham

Stephen Willingham conducted foundational research identifying CD47 as a broadly expressed anti-phagocytic 'don't eat me' signal on cancer cells that enables tumor immune evasion by inhibiting macrophage phagocytosis. His pre-clinical and early translational work at Stanford and Forty Seven contributed to the clinical development of magrolimab (anti-CD47), which demonstrated activity in combination with rituximab (anti-CD20) in NHL by blocking the anti-phagocytic signal while simultaneously triggering prophagocytic signals through Fc receptor engagement. This dual innate immune checkpoint strategy opened a new class of IO combinations.