Drew Mark Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D.

Headshot of Drew Mark Pardoll
  • Director, Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
  • Professor of Oncology

Expertise

Immunotherapy

Research Interests

Gene and Cell Therapy

Background

Dr. Pardoll is the Abeloff Professor of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology and Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine.  He is the Director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Co-Director of the Cancer Immunology Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. 

Dr. Pardoll attended Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his M.D., Ph.D., in 1982 and completed his Medical Residency and Oncology Fellowship in 1985. He then worked for three years at the National Institutes of Health as a Medical Staff Fellow. Dr. Pardoll joined the departments of oncology and medicine in 1988. Dr. Pardoll has published over 300 papers as well as over 20 book chapters on the subject of T cell immunology and cancer vaccines. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Cell, and has served as a member of scientific advisory boards for the Cancer Research Institute, the University of Pennsylvania Human Gene Therapy Gene Institute, Biologic Resources Branch of the National Cancer Institute, Harvard-Dana Farber Cancer Center, Cerus Corporation, Global Medical Products Corporation, Genencor Corporation, CellGenesys Corporation, Mojave Therapeutics, the American Association of Clinical Oncology and the American Association of Cancer Research.

Dr. Pardoll has made a number of basic advances in Cellular Immunology, including the discovery of gamma - delta T cells, NKT cells and interferon-producing killer dendritic cells.  Over the past two decades, Dr. Pardoll has studied molecular aspects of dendritic cell biology and immune regulation, particularly related to mechanisms by which cancer cells evade elimination by the immune system. He is an inventor of a number of immunotherapies, including GVAX cancer vaccines and Listeria monocytogenes based cancer vaccines. Dr. Pardoll’s basic immunology discoveries include the identification of gd-T cells, NKT cells and IKDC. He elucidated the role of Stat3 signaling in tumor immune evasion and in Th17 development, leading to the discovery that Stat3-driven Th17 responses promote carcinogenesis. Dr. Pardoll discovered one of the two ligands for the PD-1 inhibitory receptor and leads the Hopkins cancer immunology program that developed PD-1 pathway-targeted antibodies, demonstrating their clinical activity in multiple cancer types.

His more than 300 articles cover cancer vaccines, gene therapies, cancer prevention technologies, recombinant immune modulatory agents for specific pathways that regulate immunity to cancer and infectious diseases.

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Titles

  • Director, Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
  • Co-Director, Cancer Immunology Program
  • Martin D. Abeloff Professor of Cancer Research
  • Professor of Oncology
  • Professor of Medicine
  • Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
  • Professor of Pathology

Departments / Divisions

Centers & Institutes

Education

Degrees

  • B.A.; Johns Hopkins University (Year I/Human Biology Pgm) (Maryland) (1977)
  • M.D.; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Maryland) (1982)
  • Ph.D.; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Maryland) (1982)

Research & Publications

Research Summary

In Pardoll's laboratory, one area of focus is the elucidation of immune regulatory pathways that affect T cell function and differentiation, as well as transcriptional regulatory events in Treg biology. Pardoll discovered PD-L2 in 2000 and demonstrated that it is a ligand for PD-1. In collaboration with co-investigator Charles Drake, Pardoll elucidated the role of LAG-3 in enhancing regulatory T cell functions as well as inhibition of CD8 T cell effector function. Additionally, Pardoll has developed multiple cell-based and antigen-specific vaccines, including GM-CSF transduced tumor vaccines as well as Listeria Monocytogenes-based antigen specific vaccines. Pardoll also serves as a co-investigator on the initial clinical trials at Johns Hopkins that introduced anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies for the treatment of cancer patients. 

Activities & Honors

Honors

  • Fellow, Academy of Immuno-Oncology

Videos & Media

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