Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, has been recruited to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to lead a new Center for Immunobiology, a structure supported by the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, the Department of Medicine, and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC). He took on his new role September 1.
Dr. Rathmell comes to Vanderbilt from Duke University Medical Center, where he was Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, as well as of Immunology in the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. He was additionally Director of Graduate Studies of Pharmacology. He has been named a Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology and will serve as co-leader of the Host Tumor Interactions Research Program at VICC.
His work at Vanderbilt will focus on the field of immunometabolism and how nutrient and metabolic pathways can influence immune responses.
“Vanderbilt has great immunologists across the medical school, and the main goals of the new Center for Immunobiology will be to foster basic immunology science, which touches on many different fields and diseases, and to help build the immunology community,” said Dr. Rathmell.
“We are delighted to welcome Jeff to VICC and look forward to his contributions and leadership as we grow cancer immunology from basic and translational research to clinical investigation,” said Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, B.F. Byrd Jr Professor of Oncology and Director of VICC.
Dr. Rathmell has authored more than 90 research articles and serves as a member of the editorial board for several scientific journals.
He earned his doctorate in immunology at Stanford University and completed a graduate fellowship with the National Science Foundation during his PhD training. He undertook postdoctoral training at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Irvington Institute for Immunological Research. ■
