October 13, 2023, NEW YORK – We extend our congratulations to Jedd Wolchok, board member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, on his election to the National Academy of Medicine. One of the highest honors issued to clinicians and scientists, election to the Academy recognizes exceptional achievement and commitment to service in the fields of health and medicine.
Wolchok certainly fits the bill. A renowned tumor immunologist and clinical oncologist, he is best known for having led the clinical development of the anti-CTLA-4 checkpoint blockade immunotherapy ipilimumab, the first agent in this revolutionary class of cancer therapies to win regulatory approval. His subsequent contributions to cancer research have been equally impressive, including the vitally important formulation of criteria to assess patient responses to immunotherapy and leadership of groundbreaking studies establishing the enhanced efficacy of combination anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 immunotherapies for the treatment of melanoma. Wolchok’s laboratory has also made major contributions to tumor immunology. Its discoveries have shed new light on multiple dimensions of cancer biology and led to the creation of several diagnostics and therapeutic strategies now in preclinical and clinical development.
Wolchok, who is Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and co-director of the Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine, has long been affiliated with Ludwig Cancer Research as an investigator and leader. He is a trustee of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Charitable Trust, a former member of the Ludwig Institute, former Lloyd J. Old/Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair in Clinical Investigation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and former associate director of the Ludwig Center at MSK, where the Collaborative Laboratory was previously located.