Skip to content
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Search
Search Close

Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil

Member Researcher

Biography

Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, is the Director of the Abramson Cancer Center at the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania and is the John H. Glick, MD Abramson Cancer Center’s Director Professor. He is the vice dean and vice president of cancer programs for the Perelman School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Health System. An international leader in pancreatic cancer immunobiology, Dr. Vonderheide leads the NCI P30 CCSG grant, as well as an NCI P01, a SU2C-Lustgarten Team on Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy, and a PICI national study of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer.

The Vonderheide Lab combines efforts in both basic research and clinical trials to advance the understanding of tumor immunology and to develop novel immunotherapies for cancer.

Dr. Vonderheide’s basic research includes deciphering the immunobiology of novel genetically engineered mouse models of cancer, including the regulation of immune surveillance and the tumor microenvironment by CD40.

He serves as deputy editor of the American Association for Cancer Research’s Cancer Immunology Research and is a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisers. His translational work tests novel approaches such as vaccines, antibodies, and adoptive T cells for the treatment of patients with breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma. His work has been published in senior author manuscripts in Nature, Science, and the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Vonderheide graduated from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, as well as Harvard Medical School. He completed training in internal medicine and medical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Education & Training

  • 1985: University of Notre Dame, IN, BS Chemical Engineering
  • 1989: Oxford University, England, DPhil Immunology
  • 1993: Harvard Medical School, MA, MD

Awards & Honors

  • 2013: Elected member, American Association of Physicians
  • 2012: William Osler Patient Oriented Research Award, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
  • 2011: Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
  • 2007: Elected member, American Society of Clinical Investigation
  • 2002: Scholar Award, V Foundation
  • 2000: Cancer Research Fund-Lilly Clinical Research Investigator Award, Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation
  • 1999: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Award