Howard Kaufman

Dr. Howard L. Kaufman serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Ankyra, where he is responsible for all clinical development. Dr. Kaufman has been a leading authority on local tumor immunotherapy and oncolytic viruses. He led the successful phase III trial of Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), the first oncolytic virus to be approved for cancer treatment. He also led the pivotal clinical trial of avelumab, an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, that was approved for the treatment of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma. His industry experience includes roles as Chief Medical Officer at Compass Therapeutics and Replimune, Inc., and most recently he was Head of Research and Development at Immuneering Corporation. Dr. Kaufman received his MD from Loyola University, completed a residency in General Surgery at Boston University, and fellowship training in Tumor Immunology and Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute.

He previously held appointments as Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Associate Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, Director of the Rush University Cancer Center, and Associate Director for Clinical Sciences at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Dr. Kaufman has maintained a funded laboratory in tumor immunology for 20+ years and has published over 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, books, review articles, and scientific abstracts. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Journal of Translational Medicine and is a member of numerous professional societies, including his service as President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer from 2014-2016. Dr. Kaufman was the recipient of several awards including the Daland Prize, MRF Humanitarian Award, and UIC Distinguished Alumnus Award, and he has been appointed to the Board of Directors of several professional, academic, and industry organizations. He maintains an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School and is a Clinical Associate at Massachusetts General Hospital where he continues to see patients with cutaneous malignancies.