President's Message - December 2020

 Dear Colleagues,

I would like to open this month’s message, my last as SITC President, with a warm thank you to all of the attendees, supporters, organizers, faculty, staff and other volunteers who helped make our society’s 35^th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (SITC 2020) a record breaking success. More than 5,200 professionals in the cancer research community gathered virtually from Nov. 9–14 to present and hear the latest data in the lab and advances achieved in the clinic in immunotherapy. 

While we were unable to share and celebrate the latest advances in our field in person – more individuals attended SITC 2020 than any other society program in our history. A fitting milestone as we marked 35 years of SITC contributions in immunotherapy and tumor immunology.

To mark our 35^th anniversary, SITC honored more awardees than ever before during its Annual Meeting, This year, SITC presented its Lifetime Achievement Award, a new honor for the society, to Tara Withington, CAE. For more than 20 years as SITC’s Executive Director, Tara has devoted all of herself to help fulfill our society’s mission and achieve new heights. Her vision helped SITC launch countless integral SITC initiatives including the connectED online education platform, the SITC Sparkathon, the certificate in cancer immunotherapy program, Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy™ regional education programs and many others.

Congratulations to all of the SITC 2020 Award recipients. Click here for a complete listing of those honored, including the dozens of young investigators who received awards this fall. And don’t forget, for all those who registered for SITC 2020, you can access program presentations through the end of the year via on-demand video in the SITC 2020 virtual platform.

The virtual meeting allowed SITC to expand our Annual Meeting programming to a truly global audience. This past year, SITC’s membership base grew to represent more than 60 countries around the world. Increasing global access to immunotherapy is one of the society’s key strategic priorities. One way we are seeking to achieve this goal will be through this month’s virtual workshop, Global Access to Cancer Immunotherapy: Closing the Gaps. Organized through the guidance and strategic vision of the SITC Global Access and Impact Committee, which is chaired by David Kaufman, MD, PhD, this workshop will offer leaders an opportunity to discuss and define minimal infrastructure requirements for safe and effective IO administration across the globe. Congruent with SITC’s mission to ensure that all immunotherapy advancements are freely available, materials from this workshop will be available on SITC Cancer Immunotherapy connectED after the conclusion of the workshop. We invite you to view the materials later in December and participate in future discussions concerning international IO accessibility.

Have you completed your holiday shopping? As we close out 2020, I ask that you consider including the Forward Fund in your year-end giving.  Making a donation to SITC’s Forward Fund, supports the future of the field through grants and awards for young investigators.  You can make the gift in honor or in memory of a loved one and help advance the Society’s mission.  They’ll receive a card notifying them of your generous gift and you’ll receive a gift recipient for tax purposes.  You can also purchase a CheckPoints T-shirt or Mask as a truly unique gift for someone you care about. If you missed the CheckPoints at SITC 2020, you can watch their happy hour performances here.  Further, if you are completing some holiday shopping on Amazon, use SITC’s Amazon Smile hyperlink, which triggers a 0.5 percent donation from the online retailer to our society on eligible purchases. We appreciate your kindness as we close out the calendar year.

As we approach the final days of 2020, I’m pleased to pass the baton of SITC leadership to fellow colleague and friend Patrick Hwu, MD. I look forward to seeing and supporting Dr. Hwu’s tenure as SITC President as he helps make the next two years for SITC our best yet.

Happy holidays to the entire SITC family.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD

SITC President

President's Message - October 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Our society continues its preparations toward our fully virtual 35th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (SITC 2020), scheduled for Nov. 9–14, 2020. Please take note that the SITC 2020 meeting registration fee has been waived for ALL SITC members. You can become a member or renew your membership during the SITC 2020 online registration process.

Also, to accommodate for the COVID-19 impact on cancer immunotherapy research this year, the late-breaking abstract (LBA) submission period will be opened to everyone. SITC will not require an LBA application to be submitted beforehand. Previously submitted LBA applications will automatically be invited to submit a full LBA during the LBA submission period, Sept. 8-22, 2020, at 5 p.m. PDT.

In addition to the intense preparations for the Annual Meeting, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer continues to make progress on its objectives for this year. Educating clinicians on all aspects of cancer immunotherapy is one of our main objectives and directly serves the goal of improving patient outcomes. This past month the Certificate in Cancer Immunotherapy Program was launched, and is being offered online via our society’s SITC Cancer Immunotherapy connectED platform. The SITC certificate consists of eight learning modules all of which offer relevant education credits (CME, CNE, CPE and MOC).  After successful completion of the modules, the SITC Graduate in Cancer Immunotherapy (SITC-G) designation is granted and identifies a healthcare provider who has completed specialized training in cancer immunotherapy.

The first of eight modules, presented by Robert Ferris, MD, PhD (Director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, long-time SITC member and past At-Large Director), is now online. It covers basic concepts of immunology, including innate and adaptive immune responses. The other seven module topics, which will be launched in the weeks ahead, include:

• Basic Cancer Immunotherapy Concepts
• Immune Checkpoint Blockade
• Managing Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Adverse Events
• Other Approaches, including Cytokines, Vaccines, Immune Cell Engagers
• Oncolytic Viruses and Intralesional Therapy
• CAR T Cell and Cellular Therapy
• Implementing Cancer Immunotherapy in Clinical Practice

SITC executive leadership, faculty and staff have put many months of effort in the planning and continued execution of this exciting new SITC program. I would like to thank all of those involved in the Certificate in Cancer Immunotherapy program, including Executive Director Tara Withington, CAE, and Past President Howard L. Kaufman, MD, FACS, both of whom championed this effort and the need for such a program for multiple years.

To learn more about eligibility requirements to earn your Certificate in Cancer Immunotherapy, please click here. SITC members receive a 20 percent discount on all Certificate in Cancer Immunotherapy modules, so if you haven’t yet, please be sure to join the SITC family to take advantage of this exclusive member benefit.

Sincerely, 

Mario Sznol, MD

SITC President

President's Message - May 2020

Dear Colleagues,

The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is evolving rapidly and many questions remain unanswered. The pandemic has added a great level of uncertainty to our lives and understandably for the Society’s plans and activities for at least the next several months. Nevertheless, we are actively adapting to new realities, so we can continue our basic mission to improve outcomes for cancer patients by advancing the science, development and application of cancer immunology and immunotherapy.

From witnessing events at my own institution and speaking to colleagues around the world, the pandemic has disrupted or completely halted lab work for many and is significantly affecting the day-to-day management of patient care in many of our institutions. On behalf of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), I would like to thank the countless health care workers and researchers working around the clock to overcome this pandemic.

SITC members in the nearly 50 countries where our membership extends are playing important and active roles in the response to COVID-19, lending their expertise in clinical care, clinical trial methodology and immunology.  SITC as an organization is using its comprehensive professional network and infrastructure to facilitate information exchange, particularly as it relates to the impact of COVID-19 on delivery of cancer immunotherapy and the use of immune modulators to treat COVID-19 patients. The importance of cancer research has not diminished, and we continue to advocate for our field.

In March, SITC launched a pair of open-to-the-public online communities focused solely on the coronavirus. Members and nonmembers can participate in online discussions of patient management and care as it relates to COVID-19 and considerations for basic and translational research. Access to the forums is available through With a free SITC CONNECT login. Please consider sharing your expertise and lessons learned involving COVID-19 within these forums.

Based on preliminary observations from non-randomized clinical data, SITC recently published a statement calling for expanded access to anti-IL-6/IL-6R therapies for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC). The statement was co-authored by several of our colleagues, and encourages the pharmaceutical industry, health authorities and institutional IRBs to work creatively and collaboratively to expand access to anti-IL-6 therapies for critically ill patients with COVID-19, while waiting for results from controlled randomized trials. SITC also produced an additional publication titled, “The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Perspective on Regulation of Interleukin 6 Signaling in COVID-19-related Systemic Inflammatory Response.” The analysis reviews additional investigational therapies that could be explored as approaches to reduce the severe and damaging inflammatory response observed during COVID-19 infection.

One of the key outstanding questions for many of our clinicians is the impact of PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies on the course of COVID-19 infection. At this time, there are no clear data which indicate changes to the risk-benefit ratio of immune checkpoint inhibitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are both theoretical increased risks (for example, hyperinflammation during infection) and potential benefits (improved clearance of the virus and lower morbidity/mortality). A summary of considerations was shared with SITC by colleagues at Genentech-Roche and has been posted here for your review.

To access all of the COVID-19-related resources from our society, and those from other reputable sources, please visit SITC’s COVID-19 resources webpage to track the latest news, participate in online discussions and more.

SITC leadership remain as committed as ever to achieving our society’s strategic goals. This is why I ask that if you have ever considered joining the SITC family (or if you have not yet renewed your membership for 2020), please do so now. COVID-19 is affecting our organization in many ways, and I know SITC and its members will come out of this stronger than ever.  We greatly appreciate your commitment to our society and the support your membership provides to SITC in these difficult times.

As part of the benefits of a membership, SITC recently made available to its members free access to enduring materials from the Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School, hosted this past January in Houston. The program, in its second year, provided attendees with a deep understanding of the core principles of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy and examined developing areas in the field. SITC also provides free access to dozens of online courses for patients, clinicians and researchers. Please visit SITC Cancer Immunotherapy connectED, our society’s online education portal, to engage with the society and continue learning from the comforts of your home.

Finally, SITC will soon commence its 2020 election to choose the future leaders of our society. Beginning May 6–20, SITC regular and emeritus members current in their dues will cast their votes for our next Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer and three At-Large Directors. I would like to thank this year’s candidates and those completing their terms later this year (including Secretary/Treasurer Kim A. Margolin, MD; as well as At-Large Directors Paolo Antonio Ascierto, MD; David Kaufman, MD, PhD; and Douglas G. McNeel, MD, PhD). SITC’s future is bright and in good hands with my colleague and friend, Patrick Hwu, MD, set to assume role of SITC President in January. Continue reading this month’s Immune Monitor for a complete listing of the 2020 SITC Election candidates.

Thank you all for the many ways you are positively affecting patient outcomes during these uncertain times. I wish you the best of health and happiness and look forward to seeing you at a future SITC program.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President

President's Message - January 2020

Dear Colleagues,

In my December President’s Message, I outlined our society’s future ambitions, focused on six strategic goals through 2021. This month, I’d like to describe some of the programs and initiatives to achieve those strategic goals.

SITC strives to be the most comprehensive and reliable resource for information and education on cancer immunotherapy. One way in which our society serves the greater cancer immunotherapy field is through our open access, peer-reviewed Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC). The quality of research presented in the journal has grown over the years and it is now arguably the top journal focusing on cancer immunotherapy. Given this growth, SITC officially transitioned JITC to a new publisher this month, BMJ, giving JITC the optimal platform to engage readers, authors and the greater field of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. Learn more in this special editorial from JITC Editor-in-Chief Pedro J. Romero, MD.

SITC is invested in developing the next generation of leaders in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. To further this mission, we will offer five SITC Fellowship Awards in 2020, providing a total of a half-million dollars in funding opportunities to promising young investigators. The submission period for these funding and award opportunities is Jan. 21–March 2, 2020. Thank you to our industry partners who help make these annual award opportunities possible as we work together to develop the future leaders in the field.

The Women in Cancer Immunotherapy Network (WIN) Leadership Institute is another successful leadership development program that will grow in 2020. The 2019 WIN Leadership Institute held this past August hosted more than 60 emerging female leaders in the field. Because of the strong interest and demand for this program, and the overwhelming positive response to the first program, SITC will host two such events in 2020. I’m proud of SITC commitment to the professional development of women in the field, and I thank Immediate Past President Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, for her role as a champion for the WIN initiative.

SITC’s main goal of improving cancer care and patient outcomes is reliant upon the commitment of time and expertise from our members from around the globe. The SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines are consensus-based clinical practice guidelines, developed by panels of experts, that help inform oncologists on when and how to use immunotherapy and how to manage the associated toxicities. SITC has now published seven different guidelines, including the recently updated consensus statement on renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which appeared in JITC in December. Five additional guidelines are currently under development and scheduled for publication in 2020.

Don’t forget to register for the free SITC webinar focused on the recently published RCC manuscript. Beginning at 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 7, this webinar will include an overview of the manuscript, and will review management of immune-related adverse events. Faculty will also be available for a Q&A session.

Also, please consider attending other SITC programs quickly approaching, including the Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School (Jan. 13–17 in Houston; onsite registration is available) and the Interrogating the Tumor-Specific Surfaceome for Immune Targeting workshop (April 23–24 in San Diego). Additionally, online registration is open for our upcoming Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy™ regional education programs in Charlotte, N.C., on Jan. 23, in Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 1, in Tucson, Ariz., on March 14, in Tampa, Fla., on March 21 and Seattle on March 28.

There are many other programs, initiatives, educational resources and more that SITC has planned in 2020 (here's a preview). I look forward to an exciting year ahead for our society and our members, and I hope to see you in a future SITC program in 2020.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President

Reflections of SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School

The following is a blog post authored by Andy Kah Ping Tay, PhD (Stanford University), a recipient of a 2019 SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School Travel Award. In this blog, Dr. Tay describes his experience of attending the Winter School program, a comprehensive education program for early-to-mid-career scientists and clinicians. Click here to learn more about the 2020 SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School scheduled for Jan. 13–17, 2020, in Houston, Texas.

By Andy Tay

A confidence booster

Trained as a biomedical engineer, I stumbled into cancer immunology research without much prior knowledge and continually worried that I might be too late going into this popular field. The SITC Winter School, however, changed my view. It provided me with sufficient knowledge on the basics of immunology and the clinical side of cell therapy. At the same time, there was appreciable amount of content on the industrial and technological aspects of immunotherapies. This arrangement was unique and helpful to the broad audience coming from academic institutions, clinics and industries. In fact, after the Winter School, I realized that despite the need for better assessment of cell quality for cancer immunotherapy, the current metrics to measure critical biological attribute are lacking. Building on this idea, I recently published an original article proposing a framework to rigorously assess cell quality after DNA delivery. The Winter School is a fertile ground to get new ideas to work on!

Immunotherapy for ALL

The SITC Winter School is also the first time where I met patient partners in a conference. It was a humbling experience because as a researcher, I hardly had any interaction with patients and yet, my technologies are meant to accelerate biomedicine for them. Through conversing with patient partners, I realized that there is insufficient information to educate patients about cancer immunotherapy as it is a relatively new therapy compared to chemo- and radio-therapies. This is especially true for children patients who are young and learn better through toys. Motivated by this, I went on to design a toy kit with the Stanford Design School to educate children aged 5-10 fighting cancer about immunotherapy (see figure below). I am extremely grateful that the SITC Winter School gave me an additional perspective about research which is that as researchers strive for biomedical breakthroughs, there should be sufficient communications with the larger society to explain what these breakthroughs will mean for them. 

Integrating into the SITC family

During the Winter School, I also got plenty of opportunities to learn about the various initiatives of SITC. One particularly useful take-away was an invitation to join the SITC Big Data and Data Sharing Task Force. Despite the promise of bioinformatics to improve cancer and immunological research, there is insufficient student trained in this area. Furthermore, the data that the community generates from analyses such as RNA transcriptomics are often under-utilized. The task force I am in aims to create training opportunities for students in computational cancer immunology, and to create workshops during conferences to introduce researchers to bioinformatics.

Whether you are looking to learn more about cancer immunology, or trying to find new ideas to work on, the SITC Winter School is a great platform for that!

President's Message - September 2019

Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to begin this month’s President’s Message honoring Stan Collender (1951-2019). Stan, an immunotherapy pioneer and advocate, was a cancer patient of past SITC President Michael B. Atkins, MD. Dr. Atkins first met Stan in 2012 when he presented with Merkel Cell Carcinoma. From there, they developed a close relationship as Stan courageously fought his disease with immunotherapy for many years. Their experience and efforts together taught us much about the impact and limitations of immunotherapy. Read more about Stan’s life and contributions to our field in the heartfelt memorial posted by Dr. Atkins to The Sentinel, SITC’s official blog.

As you know, breakthroughs in research and the advent of new cancer immunotherapy treatments this century spurred an explosion of interest and investment in our field. Through offerings like the Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) brings together the most accomplished and innovative researchers in the field to spark new collaborations and force consideration of new ideas that prompt discovery of new targets and approaches.

While the SITC Annual Meeting is perhaps our most important and visible effort to advance science and improve patient outcomes, many other SITC activities contribute to our core mission. SITC’s Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy™ (ACI) regional education series is an example of how SITC leverages its member’s clinical and science expertise to inform patient care, particularly safe and effective treatment administration. At the other end of the spectrum of SITC programs, the society seeks to expand research and knowledge in our field through the professional development of early career scientists. Young investigators are the future of cancer immunotherapy research. SITC is investing in their future through a variety of programs that provide education and professional development and promote community and collaboration.

One of our most effective programs aimed at young investigators is the SITC Meet-the-Experts – an annual luncheon at the SITC Annual Meeting (Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, at 12:05 p.m.) organized by the Early Career Scientist Committee that connects young investigators with leaders in the field. It has now grown to a year-round initiative featuring regular, free webinars. These online events focus on various topics that are pertinent to an early career scientist’s professional development. Most recently, Tullia Bruno, PhD (University of Pittsburgh), moderated our Aug. 22 webinar focused on Careers in Science Away from the Bench, which you can view on-demand here.

SITC will once again host a Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School on Jan. 13-17, 2020, at the Hilton Houston Post Oak in Houston, Texas. Led by program organizers Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD (Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy/University of California San Francisco), and Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD (UPMC Hillman Cancer Center), this program provides intensive instruction on the core principles of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. These programs also foster connections among peers which is critical component to their future success.

SITC also strengthens the support network for young scientists through the Professional Interest Communities. These digital discussion forums connect individuals of similar professional and personal backgrounds to share career development needs, address professional hurdles and more.

Beyond the basic education and professional development offered by SITC, SITC Fellowships provide funding to support the early careers of the most talented scientists. Supported through the Forward Fund, SITC has awarded more than $2 million in Fellowship Awards since 2014. Stay tuned later this year for information about 2020 SITC Fellowships.

SITC offers an affordable membership rate of $50 for students and scientists-in-training. Joining our society provides discounted access to vital SITC in-person programs and reduced fees on articles accepted to the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC). It also places young investigators in a professional network of the most influential basic scientists, translational researchers and clinicians in the field. Click here to become a SITC member and join the world’s leading organization dedicated solely to cancer immunotherapy research.

Finally, I would like to recognize and thank the countless number of women who organized, facilitated and attended SITC’s Women in Cancer Immunotherapy Network Leadership Institute in Seattle last month. This exciting new program from SITC, championed by immediate Past President Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD, was a rousing success. I look forward to seeing our society continue its effort to support, advance and celebrate the success of women in our field.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President