Krishna Komanduri, M.D., chief of the Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, has been elected to the Henry Kunkel Society. Dr. Kunkel was a leading physician-scientist in immunology and many of his direct trainees also became leaders in applying basic science to clinical approaches in immune diseases and cancer immunology.  

Dr. Komanduri is highly regarded for his laboratory research in human T cell immunology and for his clinical expertise and leadership in the area of CAR-T cell therapy, an important approach to redirect human immune responses to treat cancer. Membership in the Henry Kunkel Society is intended to bring together and promote the success of top investigators in the field of human immunology, such as Dr. Komanduri. 

“This is a lovely honor, especially since I began my career as a physician-scientist as a trainee in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph (Mike) McCune, who was directly mentored by Henry Kunkel. It is a distinct privilege to be a physician-scientist in this field now, when we are making enormous progress in applying our knowledge of the human immune system to treat cancers resistant to chemotherapy” said Dr. Komanduri.