Todd Fehniger

Dr. Fehniger is a Professor of Medicine at WashU Medicine in St. Louis. As a physician-scientist he leads a research program focused on developing novel immunotherapies for patients with blood cancer. His group pioneered studies discovering memory-like natural killer (NK) cell immunobiology and activity against acute myeloid leukemia and other hematologic malignancies. His team developed the platform for production of GMP-grade memory-like NK cells for use in academic clinical trials and translated these findings into early phase clinical trials advancing memory-like NK cellular therapy for both adult and pediatric patients. Correlative immunology from these trials identified multiple mechanisms whereby memory-like programs enhance NK cell response to blood cancers. Current research focuses on engineering memory-like NK cells with synthetic proteins to enhance targeting and function, identifying immunosuppressive mechanisms within blood cancer microenvironments, and translating these new findings to the clinic. He has mentored over 30 graduate, medical, and post-doctoral trainees as well as junior faculty. Dr. Fehniger serves as Co-leader of the Siteman Cancer Center Hematopoietic Development and Malignancies Program, Laboratory Director of the Center for Gene and Cellular Immunotherapy, and Director of the Siteman Cancer Center Biologic Therapies Core Facility.