Dr. Michael Kalos is an internationally recognized expert in T cell therapy and immunotherapy and brings over 25 years of experience and expertise in cell therapy, oncology vaccines, and immuno-oncology. Most recently Michael served as Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at ArsenalBio, a synthetic biology-based cell therapy start-up. At ArsenalBio Michael led development of research and development and product development strategy for the company’s first product. Prior to ArsenalBio Michael served as Vice President of Immuno-oncology and Oncology Cell Therapies at Janssen, the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson and Johnson, where he led corporate internal and external strategy and efforts in cell therapy, neoantigen vaccines, and immuno-oncology. Prior to Janssen, Michael served as Chief Scientific Officer of immuno-oncology at Eli Lilly and Company, where he established and led internal and external corporate strategy in immuno-oncology, including biologics, bi-specifics, vaccines, and cell therapy. Prior to joining the biopharmaceutical sector, Michael spent 10 years in academia, where he focused on the development of integrated translational biomarker programs to support the development of cell therapy and immunotherapy programs. The laboratory he founded and directed at the University of Pennsylvania played a key role in the success of the cell therapy program at the University of Pennsylvania, including clinical development of the CTL019 program that was licensed to Novartis and led to the approval of Kymriah. Dr. Kalos obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and completed post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Phil Greenberg at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Kalos has co-authored over 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including multiple highly cited articles in high-impact journals that have helped define the space of CAR- and TCR- based T cell therapy, as well as book chapters in the field of cancer immunotherapy, and has 26 issued patents in the field of cell therapy, immunotherapy, and vaccines. He actively serves and has served as an advisory member for international immunotherapy consortia and societies as well as biopharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Abul K. Abbas received his MBBS (MD equivalent) in India, completed training in Pathology at Harvard Medical School and joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he rose to become Professor of Pathology and Head of the Immunology Research Division. In 1999, after twenty years on the Harvard Medical School faculty, he moved to UCSF as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology, where he served in this position until 2018. Dr. Abbas has received several honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Rous-Whipple Award and Robbins Educator Award of the American Society of Investigative Pathology.  He has served as one of the founding Editors and Associate Editor of Immunity, Associate Editor and Section Editor for The Journal of Immunology, Associate Editor of Cell, Consulting Editor of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, founding Editor of the Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease, and Co-Chief Scientific Advisor of Science Immunology. From 2011-2013, he was the President of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS). Dr. Abbas’ research interests are in immunology, with a focus on the control of immune responses and the causes of autoimmunity. His laboratory has used experimental models to analyze the generation and maintenance of regulatory T cells. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and invited reviews and is the author of four widely read textbooks, two in immunology and two in pathology. He has taught immunology at Harvard Medical School and UCSF and has organized and conducted immunology courses worldwide.