Michael T. Lotze, MD, FACS, FAIO

Michael T. Lotze, MD, FACS, FAIO is Professor of Surgery, Immunology, and Bioengineering; Director of the DAMP Laboratories at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. His work includes cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy, dendritic cell (DC), tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL), and cytokine therapies, and investigation of the role of mitochondria, metabolism, and DAMPs in cancer. Dr. Lotze is a clinician scientist who has spent the last decade assembling teams to work on the extraordinary problem of pancreatic cancer, renal cancer, melanoma, and lung cancer. Dr. Lotze is the co-inventor of 10 patents in DC vaccines and antigen discovery, 13 patents in TIL therapy (while CSO at Iovance), additional patents at Nurix Therapeutics where he served as Chief Cell Therapy Officer 2020-2023. He is an award-winning NCI-trained scientist (1978-1990), the inaugural Director of Surgical Oncology at Pitt (1990-2000), former Vice President of Research at GlaxoSmithKline (2001), founding director of the UPMC Hillman Academy and SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Network (SCION), Chair of the Alliance for Cancer cell and Gene Therapy (ACGT) Scientific Advisory Board, and Editor in Chief for the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, with over 600 publications and several books.