Scott J. Antonia

Biography

Dr. Antonia is currently the Department Chair of the Thoracic Oncology Department at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida. He is also a Professor of Oncologic Sciences at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa. Prior to being named chair of Thoracic Oncology in 2010, he was associate chairman of the Sarcoma Department. He joined the Moffitt Cancer Center in 1994. Dr. Antonia received his M.D. and his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut. In addition, he completed an internal medicine residency at Yale University School of Medicine and pursued additional training at Yale through a medical oncology fellowship and post-doctoral fellowship in Immunobiology. Dr. Antonia’s work focuses on translational research. Using his molecular biology and cellular background in the development of immunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer patients, he has developed strategies designed to thwart the immunosuppressive mechanisms used by tumors to evade T-cell mediated rejection. His clinical interests focus on immunotherapy and immunobiology, in particular, gene-modified tumor cell vaccine trials at both pre-clinical and clinical stages. He has designed and conducted numerous cutting-edge studies with novel immunotherapeutics and has two patents for technology he has developed. He has been awarded a K24 grant from the National Cancer Institute to support his clinical research and is the principal investigator for a Thoracic SPORE project. Dr. Antonia is also conducting several ongoing investigator-initiated clinical trials testing novel tumor vaccines, and tumor vaccine augmentation strategies for the treatment of various cancers. Dr. Antonia also serves as chairman of Moffitt’s Scientific Review Committee and medical director of the Tumor Vaccine Production Facility at Moffitt. He was named the Moffitt Physician of the Year in 2005 and Mentor of the Year in 2008. Dr. Antonia has published papers in several peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Clinical Cancer Research, Current Opinions in Oncology, and Cancer Research. In 2014, he was recognized as the “Most Cited Faculty” during the Moffitt Faculty Appreciation/Recognition Reception. In 2015, he was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors.

Research Interest

Dr. Antonia focuses on translational research, using his molecular biology and cellular immunology training in the development of immunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer patients. This work is organized around three themes. The first is to develop gene-modified tumor-cell vaccines using genes that potentiate anti-tumor immune responses. The second is to develop dendritic cell-based vaccines. The third is to develop strategies designed to thwart the immunosuppressive mechanisms used by tumors to evade T-cell mediated rejection. Combination immunotherapy using these strategies ultimately will be developed. Dr. Antonia has designed and conducted numerous first-in-man clinical trials with novel immunotherapeutics. He is the sponsor of several INDs for therapeutics produced at Moffitt Cancer Center, and the inventor on two patents for technology he has developed. He was recently awarded a K24 grant from the NCI to support his clinical research, and is the PI on a Thoracic SPORE project.