The American Association of Immunologists

James P. Allison, Ph.D.

Brief Bio

James P. Allison is professor and Vivian L. Smith Distinguished Chair of the Department of Immunology, Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also Deputy Director of the Koch Center for Applied Research of Genitourinary Cancers at MD Anderson. Dr. Allison was President of The American Association of Immunologists from 2001 to 2002 and served as an AAI Council member from 1996 to 2003. He was awarded the AAI-Dana Foundation Award in Human Immunology Research in 2008 and the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, and elected a Distinguished Fellow of AAI in 2019.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

2018, with Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. Click here for more details.

Lasker Award

2015 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for the discovery and development of “a monoclonal antibody therapy that unleashes the immune system to combat cancer.” Click here for more details.

Oral History - Full Interview

Interview Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Location: Houston, TX

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Oral History - Transcript

Click here to download the transcript of this interview

Oral History - Clips

Family Background, Part 1 (1:14)
Family Background, Part 2 (2:19)
Early Educational Background (1:05)
Developing Interest in Science and Immunology at UT Austin (1:27)
At The Scripps Research Institute with Ralph Reisfeld (2:16)
UT Cancer Center at Smithville and Irv Weissman as Mentor (7:33)
UC Berkeley and Working with Marian Koshland (4:19)
Relationship between Cancer and Immunology Studies (3:06)

Work on CTLA-4 at UC Berkeley and UCSF (9:27)
Competition and Collaboration in Scientific Discovery (0:26)
Scientific Accomplishments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (6:20)
Moving Back to Texas (2:32)
Memories as AAI President (0:49)
Advice for Trainees (2:08)
Meeting Willie Nelson and Ongoing Interest in Music (3:01)
What Do You Do for Fun? (0:36)

AAI Service History

Joined: 1978
President: 2001–2002
Vice President: 2000–2001
Councillor: 1996–2000

The Journal of Immunology
Associate Editor: 1987–1991
Section Board: 1993–1996

Committees
Public Affairs Committee: 1991–1992, 1995–1997

Other Service
Faculty, Advanced Course in Immunology: 1985, 1995, 1997, 1999
Abstract Programming Chair: 1994–1997

Awards and Honors

Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1997
William B. Coley Award, Cancer Research Institute,, 2005
Member, National Academy of Medicine, 2007
AAI-Dana Foundation Award in Human Immunology Research, 2008
AAI Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011
Novartis Immunology Prize (clinical), 2013
Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, 2015
Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, 2017
Wolf Prize in Medicine, Wolf Foundatoin, 2017
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2018
Distinguished Fellow, AAI, 2019

Institutional/Biographical Links

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center profile
University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston faculty profile
Nobel Prize biography
Howard Hughes Medical Institute alumni profile