Following a national search, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has promoted physician Pawel Kalinski, Ph.D., to Jacobs family endowed chair of immunology, chief of the division of translational immuno-oncology and senior vice president for team science.
On staff at Roswell Park since 2017, this sought-after physician-researcher has helped to elevate both the profile and potential of Roswell Park’s immuno-oncology team. Kalinski has previously served as vice chairman for translational research, director of cancer vaccine and dendritic cell therapies, Rustum family endowed professor for molecular therapeutics and translational research and co-leader of the tumor immunology and immunotherapy program.
“The work Dr. Kalinski leads is stunning in its scope, its uniqueness and its potential for improving patient care and survival,” says Candace S. Johnson, Ph.D, president & CEO and M&T Bank Presidential Chair in Leadership at Roswell Park. “We look forward to seeing all that he will accomplish and the achievements he will inspire our team to realize.”
Kalinski directs a portfolio of more than $22.5 million in active grants. These include a $14.5 million award from the National Cancer Institute for a multicenter collaboration supporting five separate collaborative clinical trials and a $6.42 million project that’s part of a larger U.S. Department of defense breakthrough award, led by Kalinski himself, which supports two clinical trials.
His role leading team-science initiatives at Roswell Park will be particularly important, as it represents an opportunity to promote interactions between laboratory and clinical faculty in advancing outstanding science and developing effective collaborations with partners in academia and the biotech and pharma sectors.
“We could not attract and keep talent of this caliber without the support of community leaders like the Jacobs family, who created the endowment supporting this area in 2007, and we acknowledge a deep debt of gratitude to them for their long support of immunology innovators at Roswell Park,” says Johnson.
Photo: Pawel Kalinski, Ph.D