Andy Minn, MD, PhD, will return to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as the inaugural Chair of MSK’s new Immuno-Oncology Program in August. This is a full-circle moment for Dr. Minn, a renowned physician-scientist, who completed his postdoctoral training with Joan Massagué, PhD, and his residency in the Department of Radiation Oncology, both at MSK, in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
“We are extremely fortunate to have a leader of Dr. Minn’s unparalleled caliber and global reputation at the helm of MSK’s Immuno-Oncology Program,” said Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, FACS, President and CEO of MSK. “He will help lead MSK toward a future of ongoing collaboration and discovery that will ignite our research, delivering unprecedented benefits to our patients as MSK continues to advance immuno-oncology, the world’s next frontier in cancer research.”
Dr. Minn joins MSK from the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been Director of the Mark Foundation Center for Immunotherapy, Immune Signaling, and Radiation; Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine; a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy; and an Investigator at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute.
As a researcher, Dr. Minn has focused on understanding how long-term inflammation and the abnormal activation of antiviral pathways, such as interferon (IFN), and other inflammatory cascades impact cancer progression, treatment resistance, and immunotherapy response. He employs both experimental and translational strategies to drive discoveries from bench to bedside. His studies have led to several clinical trials.
Dr. Minn’s recent efforts have focused on finding different strategies to restore productive IFN signaling in cancer by using CAR-T cells, targeting key signaling hubs, and blocking persistent and maladaptive IFN and inflammatory signaling in cancer and immune cells with JAK inhibitors. He and his lab colleagues are seeking to improve immunotherapy by discovering, understanding, and targeting chronic IFN and other inflammatory pathways that drive suppressive tumor-immune system states, leading to relapse and therapy resistance.
With his extensive experience as a scientist, clinician, and researcher, Dr. Minn will bring a new, broad perspective to MSK’s recently established Immuno-Oncology Program. The program builds on MSK’s pioneering contributions in the development of immune checkpoint blockade therapy, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) and other cellular therapies, and cancer vaccines. Under Dr. Minn’s leadership, the Immuno-Oncology Program will serve as a central hub for comprehensive immuno-oncology research, providing resources and collaboration opportunities to colleagues across MSK. The program’s focus will be on expanding our collective knowledge of the immune system and developing immunotherapies that are more effective, against more types of cancer, for a greater number of people, advancing MSK’s mission of ending cancer for life.
Dr. Minn received his MD and PhD from the University of Chicago where he studied the structure, function, and regulation of programmed cell death genes with Craig Thompson, MD, former President and CEO of MSK and currently the Benno C. Schmidt Chair of Cancer Research. After completing his postdoc at MSK, Dr. Minn returned to the University of Chicago where he served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation & Cellular Oncology and a member of the Ludwig Center for Metastasis Research before moving to the University of Pennsylvania.
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