Christina M. Annunziata, M.D., Ph.D
Board Member
Dr. Annunziata is a board-certified Medical Oncologist who currently serves as Senior Vice President of Extramural Discovery Science at the American Cancer Society (ACS). She leads a team of scientific directors and staff to identify the most innovative and promising research to end cancer as we know it for everyone. In addition to leading the grant review process at the American Cancer Society, Dr. Annunziata builds and fosters critical relationships with cancer researchers across the nation and with international scientific communities.
Prior to joining the ACS, she was a Senior Investigator, Women’s Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute. Dr. Annunziata has been a leader in innovative cancer research in both the laboratory and in clinical trials. Her laboratory established the NF-kappB signaling pathway as important for ovarian cancer stem cells and their progression. This work led to an investigator-initiated clinical trial using the SMAC mimetic class of drugs, which has now moved to a multi-center trial to test the efficacy of SMAC mimetic in combination with standard chemotherapy for patients with chemo-refractory recurrent ovarian cancer. In addition, her laboratory collaborated with Precision Biologics in the preclinical studies, first in human clinical trial, and current Phase II clinical trial testing NEO-201.
Dr. Annunziata also developed the field of intraperitoneal cellular immunotherapy. This is a type of immunotherapy where the patients’ own cells are engineered to attack cancer cells. Since ovarian cancer grows predominantly in the abdomen, she reasoned that the therapy would be most effective if administered directly to the site of the cancer. She tested different types of cells in the immune system – both innate and adaptive – along with cytokines to support the immune cells. The next steps will be to combine the components to maximize their anti-cancer activity.
In addition to her research, Dr. Annunziata has chaired scientific review committees for both laboratory and clinical research proposals. These include committees across NIH, ASCO, and the Department of Defense.