Crystal Mackall, MD

Crystal L. Mackall, MD is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at Stanford University. She serves as the Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy and the Director of PICI at Stanford. She is board-certified in pediatrics, pediatric hematology-oncology and internal medicine.

Dr. Mackall leads an internationally recognized translational research program focused on immuno-oncology with a major focus on adoptive cell therapies and children’s cancers. Her group has led pioneering translational work in developing new CARs for hematologic malignancies and demonstrating activity of CAR T cells for pediatric glioma. Dr. Mackall’s group also has advanced understanding of the biological mechanisms responsible for T cell dysfunction in the setting of adoptive cell therapy, developed the first T cell exhaustion-resistance and exhaustion-reversal platforms, created a best-in-class regulatable “remote-controlled” CAR T cell platform with enhanced potency, and discovered a role for mediator kinase in regulating T cell differentiation.

Dr. Mackall has received numerous honors, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy and to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Association of Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She received the Smalley Award for outstanding contributions to cancer immunotherapy from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, the AACR-St. Baldrick’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research, and the Nobility in Science Award from the Sarcoma Foundation of America. She is a co-inventor on numerous patents and has founded three biotech companies.

• Current: Editor-in-Chief, Frontiers in Pediatric Oncology; Associate Editor, Blood
• 2008: Named NCI Chief of Pediatric Oncology
• 2005: Appointed NCI Acting Chief of Pediatric Oncology
• 2004: Northeast Ohio Distinguished Alumni Award
• 2003: NCI Mentor of Merit Award; NCI Director's Award
• 2000: NIH Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award