Schreiber honored for cancer immunotherapy research

Robert D. Schreiber, PhD, the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Distinguished Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the 2023 Richard V. Smalley Memorial Award from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer. He joins three other scientists recognized by the society this year for outstanding contributions to the field of cancer immunotherapy.

Schreiber, also director of the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs at Washington University, will receive his award and deliver the Richard V. Smalley Memorial Lectureship in November 2023 at the society’s annual meeting in San Diego.

The Richard V. Smalley Memorial Award honors scientists and clinicians who are pioneers in cancer immunotherapy, a field focused on harnessing components of the immune system to attack cancer.

Schreiber’s research is well known for helping distinguish the conflicting role that the immune system can play in tumors — whether protective in eliminating early cancer growth or harmful when unable to recognize and attack stealth cancer cells. Among many key discoveries, Schreiber — also a research member of Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine — and his colleagues have led the field in the use of genomics to identify mutant proteins unique to a patient’s tumor and use that information to develop personalized vaccines against various cancer types.