Our Mission

To develop the next generation of immunotherapy for gynecologic cancers with the goal of improving and extending patients' quality of life and ultimately identifying curative treatments.

Patients with gynecologic cancers are treated with standard of care options such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.  But, often the benefits of these treatments are not long lasting. The drive to identify new treatments with long-term efficacy was the impetus for the first immunotherapy trials and encouraging results have propelled the research forward.

Cancer immunotherapy leverages the immune system, priming it to identify and attack cancer cells while preserving healthy normal cells. Although still in its infancy, scientists continue to learn about the immune system’s cancer-fighting capacity.  As the body of knowledge grows, immunotherapy is becoming more personalized and more and precise.

Penn Medicine has been at the forefront of the immunotherapy research. The development of CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell (CAR-T) therapy reinforced Penn’s status as a leader in the field. The Gynecologic Oncology Immunotherapy Center is able to merge the Abramson Cancer Center’s state of the art facilities with Perelman School of Medicine’s intellectual resources to offer patients the most advanced care available. The Center has been involved in developing novel immune therapeutics, cancer vaccines, CAR-T therapies and combination trials using multiple immunotherapy components. Our clinician investigators continue to explore novel strategies, designing and implementing clinical trials that combine immunotherapy with chemotherapy, adjuvant treatment or targeted therapies to improve effectiveness.

Penn Medicine is committed to the advancement of patient care, research and education. The Gynecologic Oncology Immunotherapy Center aims to accomplish these goals by offering our patients the newest and most effective therapies and is committed to making these treatments more widely available and training the next generation of leaders in immunotherapy to improve the lives of all patients with gynecologic cancers.