Kai Wucherpfennig

Kai Wucherpfennig, MD, PhD, is chair of the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at Dana-Farber, and Professor of Neurology and Professor of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. He is also a co-leader of the Cancer Immunology Program of Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

Dr. Wucherpfennig's research focuses on the role of cytotoxic T cells and NK cells in cancer immunotherapy. His lab has defined key negative regulators of T cell function in the tumor microenvironment that represent novel therapeutic targets. He has also discovered molecular mechanisms in cancer cells responsible for resistance to T cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

He has been elected as a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2006), the Henry Kunkel Society at Rockefeller University (2007), and as Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science (2009). Dr. Wucherpfennig received MD and PhD degrees from the University of Göttingen in Germany, and did his postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women's Hospital and at Harvard College.