DiPersio recognized for key discoveries in cancer biology, treatment

John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, the Virginia E. and Sam J. Golman Endowed Professor of Oncology and director of the Division of Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is being recognized by the American Italian Cancer Foundation with the 2022 Prize for Scientific Excellence in Medicine.

DiPersio, who also serves as deputy director of Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, is one of two award recipients this year and will be recognized Nov. 9 in New York, along with Guillermina (Gigi) Lozano, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The American Italian Cancer Foundation gives the annual Prize for Scientific Excellence in Medicine to global leaders in scientific research who have made key discoveries in cancer biology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

DiPersio is a leader in the field in understanding and developing novel therapies for leukemia, including methods to optimize CAR-T cell therapies, a type of cell-based immunotherapy that attacks cancer cells. His work also includes improving outcomes after stem cell transplantation, including novel methods of stem cell mobilization, and for the management of graft-versus-host disease, a sometimes life-threatening condition that some patients develop after a stem cell transplant.