Seattle

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Rimas J. Orentas, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology-Oncology, at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology where he mentors graduate students in the M3D program (Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease). Dr. Orentas’ research is based in the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research, at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Dr. Orentas is also Director of Scientific Integration at CureWorks (cureworks.org), a collaborative of academic institutions working to expand CAR-T cell therapy through implementation of standardized protocols, clinical studies, and data analysis. Dr. Orentas also is Board Chair and co-founder of Caring Cross (caringcross.org) whose mission is to develop and implement curative cell and gene therapy approaches in the developing world. Dr. Orentas’ has worked in industry, at the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, and began his independent research career at the Medical College of Wisconsin, after earning a PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular Science from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Orentas’ research has focused on the immune response to EBV-associated cancers, the immune response to pediatric solid tumors, focusing on neuroblastoma, and is currently researching CAR-T approaches for rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma with the goal of unraveling the solid tumor microenvironment in pediatric tumors in order to see curative responses in solid tumors similar to those now being developed and optimized for hematologic malignancies.

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Corinne Summers attended medical school at Florida State University College of Medicine. She completed her General Pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital. During her fellowship and acting instructor time in Seattle she worked in the laboratory of Michael Jensen, MD developing multiplexed engineering techniques to modify T cells. Currently she is an Assistant Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is the PI of the local CD22 CAR T cell trial (PLAT-04). Corinne’s research focus is the development of cellular therapies to treat pediatric hematologic malignancies.