Speaker Profile
M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Yale
Biography
Lieping Chen is one of the founding figures of modern cancer immunotherapy, whose
work gave oncology both a new class of treatment and a way to identify patients most
likely to benefit. In 1999, his laboratory discovered B7-H1, now also known as PD-L1,
and established the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway as a mechanism by which tumors evade
immune attack. This work helped lay the foundation for checkpoint blockade, part of the
cancer immunotherapy revolution named Science’s 2013 Breakthrough of the Year.
Chen went on to co-initiate the first-in-human clinical trial of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in
2006 and pioneered PD-L1 tumor staining as a predictive biomarker, work that informed
FDA approvals and helped redefine treatment across multiple cancers. His contributions
began even earlier with foundational work showing that B7-CD28/CTLA-4 family
molecules could be manipulated to strengthen antitumor immunity.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of
Medicine.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Razelle Kurzrock, Emory
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Antoni Ribas, UCLA Health (Luminary)
Featured Speakers
• Antoni Ribas, UCLA Health
• Gerold Meinhardt, Daiichi Sankyo
• Katy Rezvani, MD Anderson
• Javad Shahidi, BeOne
• Alicia Zhou, Cancer Research Institute
• Oren Gilad, Aprea Therapeutics
• Adam Palmer, UNC
• Trever Bivona, UCSF
• Laura Volta, Penn Medicine
• Vivek Subbiah, Stanford
• Mark Stewart, Friends of Cancer Research
Precision Immunotherapy After PD-1
Cells, bispecifics, ADCs, and new combination logic after checkpoint failure.
Biomarkers That Matter
Selecting patients for immunotherapy and targeted therapy with decision-grade biomarkers.
Resistance Biology & Adaptive Combination Strategies
How tumors adapt, and how to sequence therapy around that biology.
Which Immune Cells Can Be Programmed In Vivo?
The next wave of immune-cell engineering and where it may matter first.
Rare Cancers, Basket Trials & N-of-1 Playbooks
Moving from histology-agnostic evidence to individualized precision oncology.
PMWC Hall of Impact
Previous Speakers Include
Nobel laureates, technology founders, regulators, CEOs and scientific pioneers who have taken the PMWC stage.
