Dr. Howard Kaufman has over 25 years of experience in cancer immunotherapy and drug development. Previously, he served as a Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) President and is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer at Ankyra Therapeutics. In addition, he served as a Clinical Associate at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research focuses on developing oncolytic viruses and immunotherapy for the treatment of melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies. His work has led to the FDA approval of the first oncolytic virus in cancer treatment, and established the importance of anti-PD-L1 treatment for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. His lab continues to advance our understanding of how viruses induce immunogenic cell death and initiate host anti-tumor immunity. Dr. Kaufman earned his MD from Loyola University Chicago.