Carl H. June (born 1953) is an American immunologist and oncologist. He is currently the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the

Perelman School of Medicine The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He is most well known for his research into T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. In 2020 he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Education and career

June graduated from the

US Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

in 1975 and earned his medical degree in from the

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...

in 1979. He spent his fourth year of medical school at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

in Geneva, Switzerland, studying immunology and malaria with Dr. Paul Henri-Lambert, and completed clinical training in internal medicine and medical oncology from 1979 to 1983 at the

National Naval Medical Center National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in Bethesda, Maryland. June conducted postdoctoral research in transplantation biology with

E. Donnall Thomas Edward Donnall "Don" Thomas (March 15, 1920 – October 20, 2012)Frederick R. Appelbaum.Perspective: E. Donnall Thomas (1920–2012) Science 338(6111):1163, 30 November 2012 was an American physician, professor emeritus at the University o ...

and John Hansen at the

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington. History The center grew out o ...

in Seattle from 1983 to 1986. After completing his training, he returned to Bethesda, where he founded the Immune Cell Biology Program at the

Naval Medical Research Center The Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) is an agency that performs basic and applied biomedical research to meet the needs of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Its areas of focus include study of infectious diseases, biodef ...

and was head of the department of immunology from 1990 to 1995. He was also a professor of medicine and of cell and molecular biology at the

Uniformed Services University Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is a health science university of the U.S. federal government. The primary mission of the school is to prepare graduates for service to the U.S. at home and abroad in the medical corps as ...

for the Health Sciences. In 1999 June joined the University of Pennsylvania as a professor of molecular and cellular engineering at the University of Pennsylvania's school of medicine and investigator at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, where he remains today. He is board-certified in internal medicine and oncology.

Research

June has been a pioneer in the field of immunotherapy, most widely known for the development of T-cell therapy for cancer. In the 1980s, his lab supported research for the

CD28 CD28 (Cluster of Differentiation 28) is one of the proteins expressed on T cells that provide co-stimulatory signals required for T cell activation and survival. T cell stimulation through CD28 in addition to the T-cell receptor ( TCR) can provid ...

molecule as the major control switch for T cells. A few years later, tested the ability to culture genetically modified

CAR-T In biology, chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)—also known as chimeric immunoreceptors, chimeric T cell receptors or artificial T cell receptors—are receptor proteins that have been engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific ...

s in humans, discovering the cells could engraft and persist in patients with HIV/AIDS for years. His work led to the development and commercialization of

tisagenlecleucel Tisagenlecleucel, sold under the brand name Kymriah, is a CAR T cells medication for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) which uses the body's own T cells to fight cancer (adoptive cell transfer). Serious side effects occu ...

, the first FDA-approved gene therapy.

Awards and honors

* 1978 -

Alpha Omega Alpha Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society () is an honor society in the field of medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha currently has active Chapters in 132 LCME- accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects over 4,000 new ...

Medical Society. * 1978 - Michael E. DeBakey Scholar award for the Outstanding Medical Student, Baylor College of Medicine * 1991 - Fellow,

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

. * 1996 - Legion of Merit, US Navy * 1996 - Dexter Conrad Award, Office of Naval Research, Navy’s highest award for Scientific Achievement * 1997 - Frank Brown Berry Prize in Federal Medicine * 2001 - Burroughs Wellcome Fund Award: visiting professor in the basic medical sciences * 2002 - Lifetime Achievement Award,

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1949, is the largest voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer in the world. The LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's l ...

* 2002 - William Osler Award, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine * 2005-09 - Bristol-Myers Squibb Freedom to Discover Award * 2005 - Federal Laboratory Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. * 2012 -

William B. Coley Award The William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology is presented annually by the Cancer Research Institute, to scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of basic and tumor immunology and whose w ...

for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology * 2012 - Earnest Beutler Lecture and Prize, American Society of Hematology * 2012 - Elected to

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

* 2013 -

The Philadelphia Award The Philadelphia Award is given each year to a citizen of the Philadelphia region who, during the preceding year, acted and served on behalf of the best interests of the community. Created by Edward William Bok in 1921, The Philadelphia Award is a ...

* 2013 - Richard V Smalley Award, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer * 2014 - Elected to

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. * 2014 - Taubman Prize for Excellence in Translational Medical Science. * 2014 - Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research, American Association of Immunologists * 2014 - Aubrey Evans Award / Ronald McDonald House * 2014 - Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award, AABB. * 2014 - Taubman Prize for Excellence in Translational Medical Science * 2014 - Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence * 2015 -

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is an annual award bestowed by the since 1952 for investigations in medicine. It carries a prize money of 120,000 Euro. The prize awarding ceremony is traditionally held on March 14, the birthday of N ...

. * 2015 - Watanabe Prize for Translational Research, Indianna University and Eli Lilly * 2015 - Lifetime Achievement Award Lecture, Miami Winter Symposium * 2015 - Debrecen Award for Molecular Medicine, University of Debrecen * 2015 - AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology. * 2015 - Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences, Association of American Medical Colleges * 2015 - Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize * 2015 - E. Donnall Thomas Award Lecture, American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation * 2016 -

John Scott Medal John Scott Award, created in 1816 as the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium, is presented to men and women whose inventions improved the "comfort, welfare, and happiness of human kind" in a significant way. "...the John Scott Medal Fund, establish ...

* 2016 - Distinguished Graduate Award, U.S. Naval Academy. * 2016 - Novartis Prize in Immunology * 2016 - Clinical Research Achievement Award. * 2017 - Karnofsky Prize, ASCO * 2017 - Distinguished Scientist Award, Association of American Cancer Institutes * 2018 -

Time 100 ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, po ...

: The Most Influential People of 2018 * 2018 -

Albany Medical Center Prize The Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research is the United States' second highest value prize in medicine and biomedical research, awarded by the Albany Medical Center. Among prizes for medicine worldwide, the Albany Medical ...

in Medicine and Biomedical Research. * 2018 - Passano Prize * 2019 - ACTS Distinguished Investigator: Translation from Proof-of-Concept to Applicability for Widespread Clinical Practice Award * 2019 - Harrington Prize, American Society for Clinical Investigation * 2019 - The Edward Netter Leadership Award, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy * 2020 - Lorraine Cross Award * 2020 - Elected member American Philosophical Society * 2020 - Genome Valley Excellence Award, BioAsia * 2020 - Elected member National Academy of Sciences * 2020 - Sanford Lorraine Cross Award * 2021 -

Dan David Prize The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding ...

* 2021 - Outstanding Achievement Award, American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy * 2022 - The Keio Medical Science Prize * 2022 - Maria I. New International Prize for Biomedical Research * 2023 - Phacilitate Lifetime Achievement Award

References

External links

* *
Carl June Lab at University of Pennsylvania
{{DEFAULTSORT:June, Carl Living people United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy officers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Baylor College of Medicine alumni American immunologists 1953 births Members of the American Philosophical Society Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center people