How does your work advance efforts in IO?
We are building what we hope will be a world-class toolkit including TCRs and autologous and allogeneic CAR Ts. While our platforms focus on both solid and liquid tumors, I am particularly excited about the armouring work we have done in solid tumors, where we have created a novel dominant negative TGF-β receptor armouring platform, designed to help cell therapies resist the immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment.
Tell us more about your role.
I lead a group of physicians that work across both our CAR T and T cell engager portfolios, within the Oncology R&D Cell Therapy Clinical Group. My role is to ensure that we are generating proof-of-concept data for molecules, efficiently developing and conducting clinical trials, and ensuring that we have a long-term strategy for our therapies that is aligned with the science and patient need.
"I think 2024 will be a great year of clinical data across the industry for immuno-oncology."
What will become possible next if your work succeeds?
AstraZeneca has a research platform called DIAL for CAR T that focuses on addressing the individual components and the journey of the CAR T cell. Specifically, this focuses on the distribution of CAR T, infiltration of the cells into the solid tumor stroma, promoting accumulation and effector function at the site of the tumor, and enhancing longevity of cells.
If we can systematically understand these individual components, then I think we can better develop CAR T in solid tumors that have the potential to drive more prolonged, clinically meaningful responses.
What is one prediction you have for immuno-oncology in 2024?
I think 2024 will be a great year of clinical data across the industry for immuno-oncology. As bispecific antibodies and next generation checkpoint inhibitors continue to progress in the clinic, I look forward to seeing if those can improve on the success of first-generation checkpoint inhibitors. Similarly, I am hoping there will be a nice chunk of CAR T and TCR data released.
"If we can systematically understand these individual components, then I think we can better develop CAR T in solid tumors that have the potential to drive more prolonged, clinically meaningful responses."
What are the specific modalities or pathways that you’re keeping an eye on?
I have an intrinsic draw to allogeneic CAR T. I think this is the largest hurdle to being able to move cell therapy into mainstream medicine and truly transform outcomes for patients.
What made you passionate about entering the field?
I find immuno-oncology so energizing because it is a fundamental paradigm shift from the chemotherapy I was mostly giving in practice, to therapies that actually empower a patient’s own immune system to target their cancer. It feels like a real opportunity to switch from life-prolonging medicines to potentially curative medicines.
What is your career advice, especially for young women who are entering science careers?
Learn how to make decisions when you don’t have all the data. I think as scientists and physicians, we appropriately rely on data to drive decisions. However, as my career has progressed, I find myself more and more making recommendations with limited inputs. Spend time in those situations to identify a framework for decision making as well as the minimal pieces of information you must have to move forward. Be transparent about what you do and don’t know and the potential risks. The development of that decision framework and the thought processes behind it is what will ultimately help you grow and navigate in uncertainty.
How did mentors/sponsors help you in your career growth?
My mentors provided safe places for me to ask questions, were always open for frank discussions on imposter syndrome, and coached me on public speaking and executive presence.
Book Recommendations:
I read fiction voraciously. I love the feeling of being immersed in another reality and the way books allow you to access experiences beyond your lived experience. In that vein, two books that recently floored me are Small Island by Andrea Levy and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Amazing works for fiction that are so beautifully crafted.
Document number: Z4-61623
Date of preparation: Feb 2024
