Todd A. Fehniger, MD, PhD – Samuel B. Grant Professor of Medicine

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Todd Fehniger, Professor of Medicine and Pathology and Immunology, has been named the Samuel B. Grant Professor of Medicine at WashU Medicine.

Dr. Fehniger earned his BSc degree in Biological Sciences with High Distinction from the University at Buffalo. He received his PhD in Immunology and MD from The Ohio State University, conducting his doctoral research on natural killer (NK) cell immunobiology under the guidance of Dr. Michael Caligiuri. Following an internal medicine residency and hematology-oncology fellowship at WashU, and post-doctoral research with Dr. Timothy Ley, he joined the faculty in 2008.

An internationally recognized leader in NK cell biology and cancer immunotherapy, Dr. Fehniger pioneered the field of human NK cell memory and its translation of into the clinic. His laboratory was the first to discover that brief stimulation of human NK cells with specific cytokines induces “memory-like” properties, resulting in enhanced functional responses. Based on these insights, Dr. Fehniger designed and directed a first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial of donor cytokine-induced memory-like (CIML or ML) NK cells, achieving one of the highest response rates in a non-engineered allogeneic NK cell adoptive immunotherapy trial for patients with active acute myeloid leukemia (AML). His subsequent clinical trials demonstrated that these ML NK cells could expand over 1,000-fold in vivo and persist for months, leading to long-term remissions in pediatric and adult patients with highly refractory AML. His team has further extended these memory-like programs to enhance chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) NK cell therapy, developing a first-in-human trial of CD19-CAR ML NK cells for refractory B-cell cancers.

In addition to his breakthroughs in cellular therapy, Dr. Fehniger has made foundational contributions to understanding NK cell development, homeostasis, function, the genomic landscape of B-cell lymphomas through large-scale exome sequencing studies, and development of novel lymphoma immunotherapies. He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, along with reviews, book chapters, and commentaries; many appearing in leading journals include Cancer Cell, Immunity, Nature Communications, Blood, Science Translational Medicine, Science Immunology, Cancer Discovery, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.  His research laboratory has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2008 and received funding from many organizations including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Blood Cancer United, V Foundation for Cancer Research, the Lymphoma Research Foundation, Rising Tide for Clinical Cancer Research, and many others.  Dr. Fehniger has received numerous honors including the ASCO Young Investigator Award, ASH Scholar Award, V Foundation Scholar Award, and was elected in 2016 to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Beyond his research accomplishments, Dr. Fehniger plays a pivotal institutional role in advancing WashU’s scientific mission. He serves as Laboratory Director of the Center for Gene and Cellular Therapy, Director of the Siteman Cancer Center (SCC) Biological Therapy Core Facility, where he oversaw the recent expansion of the GMP facility, and co-leader of the SCC Hematopoietic Development and Malignancy Program. He also successfully led efforts to secure a prestigious Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) in lymphoma team science award from Blood Cancer United, underscoring his commitment to collaboration in science. He has mentored >50 undergraduate, graduate and medical students, post-doctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and junior faculty, with most continuing in research careers. Through his leadership, research, and dedicated mentorship of junior faculty and trainees, he continues to elevate the scientific environment at Washington University.