Alisa Dietl, MD, PhD

Alisa Dietl, MD, PhD, is a Parker Scholar and a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Clinical Scholar co-mentored by Karin Pelka, PhD, and Alex Marson, MD, PhD, at the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology.

Dr. Dietl aims to develop effective CAR T cells against gastrointestinal cancers. To this end, she is developing a multiplexed organoid-based in vivo platform that faithfully recapitulates key features of solid tumors and endogenously expresses CAR T cell antigens that are currently being targeted in clinical trials. Using this in vivo platform together with a temporo-spatial immune cell tracking strategy, Dr. Dietl studies how CAR T cells interact with the tumor microenvironment (TME). Her ultimate goal is to inform the design of CAR T cells that overcome the TME and deliver payloads that trigger endogenous anti-tumor responses.

Dr. Dietl earned her PhD at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, where she investigated the complex interplay between epithelial cells, immune cells, and microbiota during colorectal cancer (CRC) development. She contributed to the discovery that H. pylori promotes colorectal carcinogenesis and identified the frequently mutated RNF43 gene as causal driver of inflammation-associated CRC.

• 2025 Parker Scholar
• 2025 California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Clinical Scholar, Gladstone Institutes
• 2023 PhD awarded with highest distinction (summa cum laude), Technical University of Munich
• 2019 ‘Medical Life Science & Technology’ PhD Scholarship Awardee, Technical University of Munich
• 2015-2017 Awardee of Clinical Rotation Scholarships:
• 2017 Max Kade Fellowship (Nephrology rotation, Weill Cornell Medical College New York)
• 2016 MUI Scholarship (Pediatrics rotation, Universidad de Buenos Aires)
• 2015 Eurasia-Pacific Uninet Scholarship (Neurology rotation, Fudan University Shanghai)
• 2012 Scholarship for exceptional academic achievements in medical school, Medical University of Innsbruck