Ira Mellman

Ira Mellman (FAACR, FAIO) is President of Research at the Parker Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) and CSO of Medici Therapeutics, both in San Francisco, California. An expert in cancer vaccines, Ira is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and former VP of Cancer Immunology at Genentech, Sterling Professor of Cell Biology & Immunobiology at Yale Medical School, and a postdoctoral fellow with Ralph Steinman at The Rockefeller University. Ira is best known for fundamental advances in cell biology and immunology (particularly the discovery of endosomes) and for applying these insights to elucidate the mechanisms of antigen processing by dendritic cells and the basis of PD-1/PDL1 inhibition; Ira was also responsible for devising the Cancer Immunity Cycle framework. At Genentech, his group discovered or developed four FDA-approved cancer agents, including the anti-PD-L1 antibody atezolizumab (Tecentriq®); he is also credited with initiating the first personalized mRNA cancer vaccine in collaboration with BioNTech and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Ira is the recipient of the 2025 Richard Smalley award of the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer and the Lloyd J. Old Award for Cancer Immunotherapy from the American Association for Cancer Research.