Lloyd J. Old

Dr. Lloyd J. Old holds the William E. Snee Chair of Cancer Immunology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), is a Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, is Director of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Cancer Research Institute, Inc., and is Chairman of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR). He is also a Trustee of the LICR Charitable Trust, a Trustee of the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, which created the Ludwig Cancer network in 2006, and Director of the LICR New York Branch. Since 2001, Dr. Old has also served as director of the Cancer Research Institute/Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Cancer Vaccine Collaborative. Dr. Old’s previous appointments include LICR Scientific Director (1988 to 2005), Member of the Emeritus LICR Scientific Committee (1971-86), LICR Chief Executive Officer (1995-2004), and Associate Director of Research at MSKCC (1973-83).

Dr. Old’s contributions to research over the past three decades have established many of the principles and priorities of modern tumor immunology. In earlier work, he and his colleagues introduced BCG to tumor immunotherapy ; discovered the first link between the major histocompatibility complex and disease (leukemia); found the unexpected association between Epstein-Barr virus and nasopharyngeal carcinoma; discovered tumor necrosis factor; defined the concept of cell-surface differentiation antigens with the discovery of TL , Lyt (CD8) and a range of other mouse antigenic systems; co-discovered P53 with two other groups; and identified the tumor immunogenicity of heat shock proteins. Dr. Old is the author or co-author of more than 600 research publications.

As part of a distinguished service career Dr. Old has served as a member of scientific advisory boards and committees including the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Old is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, New York Academy of Sciences, Reticuloendothelial Society, Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association of Immunologists, National Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Cancer Immunology, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also received honorary doctor of medicine degrees from Karolinska Institute, the University of Lausanne, and the University College London. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in biology and holds a medical degree from the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco.

Awards

• 1975: Cancer Research Institute, Inc. William B. Coley Award
• 1985: New York Academy of Medicine Medal
• 2004: President's Medal, Johns Hopkins University
• 2004: Dean's Award, Stanford University School of Medicine
• 2007: Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize for Cancer Research

Quotes

"When you're looking for diamonds, you don't throw out the rubies." - on why unanticipated research findings should be investigated.

"You won't know how to vaccinate until you know how to immunize. And you won't know how to immunize until you know how to monitor." - on the use of immunological monitoring as part of cancer vaccine development.

"Human benefit is our unyielding yardstick." - on measuring success in cancer research

"Immunological control will be a critical to the eventual mastery over cancer." - on seeking long-term tumor dormancy through the artificial restoration of immune equilibrium via vaccination and other cancer immunotherapies.

"Nature reveals herself most openly when she reveals herself most uniquely." - on the scientific value of notable patient cases that respond exceedingly well to cancer vaccines in immunotherapy clinical trials.

External links

• Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
• Ludwig Cancer
• Cancer Vaccine Collaborative
• Cancer Research Institute
• Old interviewed in American Scientist May 2009