Leisha Ann Emens

Biography

Leisha A. Emens, M.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Oncology at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and a member of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. After receiving her B.A. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California at San Diego, she spent two years in industry at Hybritech, Incorporated, a monoclonal antibody company. She then joined the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Baylor College of Medicine, pursuing graduate work in immunology and cell biology. At Baylor, Dr. Emens served on the operating committee of the MSTP, and was named to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) medical honor society. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in oncology at the National Cancer Institute in 1993, and internal medicine residency training at the University of Texas at Southwestern before joining the fellowship programs in hematology and oncology at Johns Hopkins University in 1998. She trained in tumor immunology as a senior clinical and research fellow before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 2001. Dr. Emens is currently board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. She is a medical oncologist with an outpatient service focused on breast cancer, and is internationally recognized for her work in breast cancer immunotherapy. She has identified novel immune-modulating activities associated with targeted cancer drugs in preclinical models, and developed synergistic immunotherapy combinations. She translates the most promising immunotherapy strategies for breast cancer to the clinic, and is now extending these strategies to ovarian cancer. Dr. Emens currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). She served as chair of the Clinical Research Committee at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. She serves on the scientific advisory boards of MolecuVax and eTheRNA. She is a former member the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is currently on the editorial board of Cancer Research and the Breast Journal. She serves as section editor for Journal for the Immunotherapy of Cancer (JITC), the voice of SITC. She is a former Chair of both the Communications Committee and the Stakeholder’s Council for SITC, and remains on the SITC Stakeholder’s Council. Dr. Emens was a member of the FDA Advisory Committee on Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies (CTGTC) 2012-2016, and remains an advisor to the FDA. She is an active member of ASCO, AACR, and SITC, and is a member of the Cancer Immunology (CIMM) Working Group of the AACR. Dr. Emens was awarded the President’s Award by the YWCA of Greater Baltimore and the Maryland Governor’s Citation for her work.

Research Interest

Mechanisms of immune regulation in the breast and ovarian tumor microenvironment