Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins University

At-Large Director Candidate

Biography

Charles G. Drake received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University.  After a brief career in circuit design, he went on to study basic Immunology and was awarded his PhD in Immunology from the National Jewish Center for Immunology in Denver, Colorado. As part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), he received an MD degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.  After completing an internal medicine residency on the Osler medicine service at Johns Hopkins, he began a Fellowship in Medical Oncology.  During his oncology fellowship, he began to investigate the immune response to cancer, developing a unique mouse model to perform studies on specific immune cell tolerance to tumors.  Experiments in this model supported the idea that androgen-ablation could mitigate tolerance to prostate cancer, creating a window during which tumor vaccination could prove successful (Cancer Cell, 2005); these data have been translated into several clinical trials.  Using other in vivo models, the Drake laboratory showed that the molecule LAG-3 is relatively over-expressed on non-functional T cells and that LAG-3 blockade affects T cell function via both Treg dependent and Treg independent mechanisms (JCI, 2007). More recently, the laboratory was able to show that blocking the immune checkpoints PD-1 and LAG-3 was synergistic in several in vivo cancer models.  Ongoing work in the laboratory is focused on better understanding the mechanisms that underlie T cell non-responsiveness to cancer – using clinical specimens from patients with prostate, kidney and bladder cancer.

SITC Election Platform Statement

What are the two or three critical issues facing cancer immunotherapy?

Develop combination regimens that lead to complete responses in multiple tumor types.

Understand mechanisms of primary resistance to immunotherapy both in patients and in animal models, and use these data to define next-generation approaches.

How do you feel the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer would benefit from your involvement as an At-Large Director on the Board?

I’m a lab-based researcher with a small but active clinical practice; my primary contribution will be to try provide perspective that bridges the gaps between pre-clinical studies, translational trials and standard-of-care treatments.   Over the years, I’ve worked with scientists and clinicians on a variety of tumor types and think that this broad experience can help to facilitate SITC’s mission in a broad and meaningful way.