Research Summary
Lawrence Fong, MD, is the Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in Cancer Biology and leads the Cancer Immunotherapy Program at UCSF. He also co-directs the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at UCSF and co-leads the Cancer Immunology Program in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a physician-scientist in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology directing both a translational research program and a research lab. He has focused on cancer immunotherapy for over 20 years and has been involved in both pre-clinical and clinical studies of FDA-approved immunotherapies including sipuleucel-T and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Dr. Fong's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that underlie clinical response and resistance to immunotherapies. This work includes tracking antigen-specific T cell responses in treated cancer patients and developing biomarkers that are associated with clinical outcomes. The Cancer Immunotherapy Program that he directs performs early phase and high risk clinical trials across different disease indications. This program also includes a translational laboratory that performs mechanistic studies on samples derived from patients undergoing treatment.
Research Funding
September 23, 2019 - August 31, 2024 - Mechanisms of Exosome Driven Immunoregulation of Cancer Progression, Co-Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: U01CA244452
September 19, 2018 - August 31, 2023 - Molecular and immune drivers of immunotherapy responsiveness in prostate cancer, Co-Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: U01CA233100
January 16, 2018 - December 31, 2022 - Determinants of prostate cancer sensitivity to PD-1 blockade, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA223484
July 2, 2015 - June 30, 2020 - Immunotherapy of human bladder cancer, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA194511
Education
Columbia University, New York, NY, BA, 1984-1988, Pre-Med., Economics
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, MD, 1988-1992