Katy Rezvani

Biography
Dr. Katy Rezvani is a pioneering physician scientist whose work has helped define and advance the field of engineered natural killer cell therapy. She has driven the development of cord blood-derived, off-the-shelf NK cell platforms from early discovery through manufacturing and clinical translation, helping establish a new class of cellular immunotherapies and a platform with the potential to expand access, improve scalability and reduce barriers to adoption. Her group provided the first clinical evidence that CAR NK cells can induce meaningful anti-tumor responses with a favorable safety profile, a landmark advance that helped accelerate the field’s growth. She has since led efforts to enhance persistence, in vivo expansion and anti-tumor activity, advancing engineered NK cell therapies for both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Beyond these scientific contributions, Dr. Rezvani has built one of the leading translational programs in cellular therapy, integrating discovery science, manufacturing and clinical investigation to accelerate the development of new treatments. Her work has helped move engineered NK cell therapy from promising concept to clinical reality and has played an important role in shaping the future of scalable cell therapy. Through these contributions, Dr. Rezvani has helped broaden the impact of cellular immunotherapy and open new possibilities for patients.

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Talk
Engineered NK Cells Expanding the Reach of Cellular Immunotherapy
This keynote will highlight the development of engineered NK cell therapies from discovery through clinical translation, including first-in-human CAR NK and TCR-NK cell studies. It will focus on strategies to enhance persistence, scalability and access, and discuss how off-the-shelf platforms are expanding the reach and impact of cellular immunotherapy for cancer and beyond.

David Miklos

Biography
Dr. Miklos is the Chief of Stanford BMT and Cell Therapy Program that provides 750 cancer cell therapies annually. Our BMT-CT research fosters the development of both laboratory immunologists, and clinical translational researchers. Our allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) research is optimizing graft content of HSC, conventional T lymphocyte, and regulatory T cell content in order to cures blood cancers via beneficial graft-v-tumor (GVT) immunity while reducing GVHD risk. Our CAR-T research provides the most direct targeting of cancer and is dramatically improving leukemia and Lymphoma with no GVHD risk. Our goal is to combine graft engineered allogeneic HCT with CAR-T benefit. The Miklos lab pioneered protein microarray technologies to discover clinically relevant allogeneic antibodies. Our clinical trials established cGVHD therapeutic benefits using anti-B cell drugs rituximab and ibrutinib. More recently, our team developed human correlative assays to optimize CAR-T therapy including ctDNA MRD, flow cytometry tumor antigen quantification, Immune phenotype CAR-T characterization (CAR-FACS), and single cell RNA characterization of CAR-T cells. Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment and Stanford Cancer Cell Therapy Program is developing and evaluating the most promising chimeric antigen T-cell (CAR-T) therapies targeting CD19, CD20, CD22, CD79A, and BCMA.

Arie Belldegrun

Biography
Arie S. Belldegrun is a trail‑blazing urologic‑oncologist‑turned‑biotech entrepreneur whose company‑building spree—from Agensys and Cougar to Kite Pharma—helped usher in the first FDA‑approved CAR‑T therapy and led to Kite’s $11.9 billion sale to Gilead Sciences.After that landmark exit, he co‑founded Allogene Therapeutics and still serves as its Executive Chairman, steering the next wave of off‑the‑shelf (allogeneic) CAR‑T cell products toward the clinic.Beyond Allogene, Belldegrun deploys capital through Bellco Capital, Two River, Symbiotic Capital, Vida Ventures, and the real‑estate venture Breakthrough Properties, nurturing a constellation of startups that translate science into patient impact.Over three decades on UCLA’s faculty, he has authored 500‑plus scientific papers, mentored a generation of physician‑scientists, and kept patient benefit at the center of every deal—cementing his reputation as one of precision medicine’s most influential builders.

Laura Alquist

Biography
Laura Alquist joined Kite in 2016 and currently serves as Vice President and Global Head of Technical Operations. She has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of technical operations including manufacturing, supply chain, quality and information systems. Laura served as Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Kite before being named Global Head of Manufacturing in 2023. Under her leadership, Kite’s manufacturing team has improved its industry-leading track record for reliability and speed. Additionally, Laura successfully led the team in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with zero supply disruptions to the patients and providers who rely on Kite’s therapies. Before joining Kite, Laura spent 20 years at Amgen in a range of global and operational roles of increasing responsibility across supply chain, manufacturing, quality and IT. Laura holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from California Lutheran University and is APICS certified in supply chain operations.

Cindy Perettie

Biography
Cindy Perettie is a global oncology and cell therapy leader with more than two decades of experience advancing medicines from science to patients. She leads Kite’s cell therapy business, building on the company’s foundation in CAR T and its approved therapies for blood cancers. Her career spans strategy, commercialization, global operations, and patient access, with prior senior leadership roles at Roche/Genentech focused on oncology. At Kite, she is driving the next phase of cell therapy, including broader patient reach, manufacturing scale, community-based delivery, and expansion into next-generation platforms. She has also emphasized the personal and human side of cancer care, connecting scientific innovation with the practical realities patients and families face. Her leadership reflects a central challenge for the field: how to turn highly complex, individualized therapies into treatments that can reach more eligible patients safely, reliably, and at global scale.

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Talk
Track 1 Chair
To be determined

Marcela Maus

Biography

Frederick Locke

Biography
Dr. Locke is a medical oncologist and translational researcher in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy. He leads the Immune Cell Therapy (ICE-T) initiative at Moffitt, an integrated cross-departmental translational team. Dr. Locke is a clinical research leader in the field of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, acting as a national P.I. for several pivotal trials of anti-CD19 CARs for lymphoma. In addition, Dr. Locke is translating findings from his laboratory into new cellular immunotherapies such as the Moffitt created whole protein survivin tumor vaccine for multiple myeloma. Dr. Locke graduated with a B.S. in Physiology from Michigan State University, and with an M.D. from Wayne State University. He stayed at Wayne State and the Detroit Medical Center for Internal Medicine residency training and then served as Chief Medical Resident at Detroit Receiving. Dr. Locke received Medical Oncology, clinical research, and laboratory research training at the University of Chicago. Dr. Locke provides care for multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia patients. He oversees both autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants as well as cellular immunotherapy treatments such as CAR T cell Therapy.

David Miklos

Biography
Dr. Miklos is the Chief of Stanford BMT and Cell Therapy Program that provides 750 cancer cell therapies annually. Our BMT-CT research fosters the development of both laboratory immunologists, and clinical translational researchers. Our allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) research is optimizing graft content of HSC, conventional T lymphocyte, and regulatory T cell content in order to cures blood cancers via beneficial graft-v-tumor (GVT) immunity while reducing GVHD risk. Our CAR-T research provides the most direct targeting of cancer and is dramatically improving leukemia and Lymphoma with no GVHD risk. Our goal is to combine graft engineered allogeneic HCT with CAR-T benefit. The Miklos lab pioneered protein microarray technologies to discover clinically relevant allogeneic antibodies. Our clinical trials established cGVHD therapeutic benefits using anti-B cell drugs rituximab and ibrutinib. More recently, our team developed human correlative assays to optimize CAR-T therapy including ctDNA MRD, flow cytometry tumor antigen quantification, Immune phenotype CAR-T characterization (CAR-FACS), and single cell RNA characterization of CAR-T cells. Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment and Stanford Cancer Cell Therapy Program is developing and evaluating the most promising chimeric antigen T-cell (CAR-T) therapies targeting CD19, CD20, CD22, CD79A, and BCMA.

Priti Hegde

Biography
Dr. Hegde oversees clinical product development, cancer genomics, and early-stage research, as well as regulatory and quality assurance, to accelerate advancement of the Company’s leading comprehensive genomic profiling portfolio. She is passionate about innovation in cancer research and translating innovations to precision medicine tools to advance care for patients. Dr. Hegde has spent nearly two decades in the biopharmaceutical industry, with a proven track record in drug development, registration, and commercialization of therapeutics with companion diagnostics in cancer immunotherapy. Prior to joining Foundation Medicine, Dr. Hegde spent 12 years at Genentech. Dr. Hegde served as senior director and principal scientist in oncology biomarker development at Genentech, during which she established and led the biomarker group accountable for translational science strategies in cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Hegde was instrumental in the approvals for atezolizumab in both the United States and European Union, as well as its forthcoming diagnostic filings.

Cindy Perettie

Biography
Cindy Perettie is a global oncology and cell therapy leader with more than two decades of experience advancing medicines from science to patients. She leads Kite’s cell therapy business, building on the company’s foundation in CAR T and its approved therapies for blood cancers. Her career spans strategy, commercialization, global operations, and patient access, with prior senior leadership roles at Roche/Genentech focused on oncology. At Kite, she is driving the next phase of cell therapy, including broader patient reach, manufacturing scale, community-based delivery, and expansion into next-generation platforms. She has also emphasized the personal and human side of cancer care, connecting scientific innovation with the practical realities patients and families face. Her leadership reflects a central challenge for the field: how to turn highly complex, individualized therapies into treatments that can reach more eligible patients safely, reliably, and at global scale.

Brett Staahl

Biography

Christian Hinrichs

Biography
Christian S. Hinrichs, M.D., serves as Co-Director of the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence (CIMCoE) and Chief of the Section of Cancer Immunotherapy. He also is Co-Leader of the Cancer Metabolism and Immunology Program. Dr. Hinrichs came to Rutgers Cancer Institute from the NCI where he held the position of tenured Senior Investigator and Lasker Clinical Research Scholar. Dr. Hinrichs is a physician-scientist who has pioneered cell therapy for HPV-associated cancers and other epithelial cancers. He is known for the discovery of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for the treatment of HPV-associated cancers, which was the first cell therapy to cause durable, complete responses in epithelial cancers. He also has discovered gene-engineered TCR-T cell therapies targeting HPV antigens and has demonstrated the safety and clinical activity of these treatments. His current laboratory research is focused on T cell receptor discovery, next-generation therapeutic approaches, and mechanisms of response to immunotherapy. Dr. Hinrichs leads the cell therapy program at Rutgers Cancer Institute in conducting “bench-to-bedside and back again” research that leverages the specialized facilities of the cancer center to bring cutting-edge treatments to New Jersey patients. The specialized facilities of the program include the Cell Therapy Research Laboratory, Process Development Laboratory, and GMP Facility. Clinical trials with on-site GMP manufacturing include treatments for gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, and genital cancers.

Sabine Heitzeneder

Biography

Jeanne Shen

Biography

Frederick L. Locke

Biography
Dr. Locke is a medical oncologist and translational researcher in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy. He leads the Immune Cell Therapy (ICE-T) initiative at Moffitt, an integrated cross-departmental translational team. Dr. Locke is a clinical research leader in the field of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, acting as a national P.I. for several pivotal trials of anti-CD19 CARs for lymphoma. In addition, Dr. Locke is translating findings from his laboratory into new cellular immunotherapies such as the Moffitt created whole protein survivin tumor vaccine for multiple myeloma. Dr. Locke graduated with a B.S. in Physiology from Michigan State University, and with an M.D. from Wayne State University. He stayed at Wayne State and the Detroit Medical Center for Internal Medicine residency training and then served as Chief Medical Resident at Detroit Receiving. Dr. Locke received Medical Oncology, clinical research, and laboratory research training at the University of Chicago. Dr. Locke provides care for multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia patients. He oversees both autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants as well as cellular immunotherapy treatments such as CAR T cell Therapy.

Saul Priceman

Biography
Dr. Saul Priceman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at USC, and the Founding Director of the KSOM/Norris Center for Cancer Cellular Immunotherapy Research. Over the last 14 years, his research has focused on T cell immunobiology and cancer immunotherapies. Dr. Priceman’s laboratory develops CAR T cell therapies and combinatorial approaches for the treatment of solid cancers, bringing several therapies to phase 1 clinical testing. His research has led to high-impact publications in Nature Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Science Translational Medicine, and Nature Communications, with numerous patents and technologies licensed for further clinical development. Dr. Priceman’s research has been funded with grants from the National Cancer Institute, Department of Defense, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He received his B.S. in microbiology at UCSB, his Ph.D. in molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA, and his postdoctoral research at City of Hope.