The Health Care 50: Sean Parker and Jim Allison

Sean Parker

Connecting Cancer Research

Parker, formerly of Napster and Facebook, knows the power of networking, so he was surprised when he found that many cancer researchers didn’t collaborate. With the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, he supports and connects the world’s best cancer doctors to speed new treatments. Its work led to the first approved gene immunotherapy for blood cancers, as well as a Nobel Prize this year for immune- based cancer drugs (see Allison and Honjo). —Alice Park

James P. Allison and Dr. Tasuku Honjo

Changing Cancer Care

The immunologists, from MD Anderson Cancer Center and Kyoto University, respectively, earned the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery that the immune system can be rewired to attack certain cancers