Sandra Demaria

A native of Turin, received her M.D. degree in Italy. She then moved to New York City to train in cancer immunology with the support of a fellowship from the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund, and subsequently trained in anatomic pathology at New York University School of Medicine. In 2001, after completing the residency, she received a K08 career development award from NCI, and stayed at NYU as attending pathologist and member of the faculty. She developed an independent research lab funded by grants from ACS, NIH, DOD and several private foundations. She grew through the ranks and was promoted to Professor of Pathology and Radiation oncology in 2013.

Her work has been focused on understanding the mechanisms whereby ionizing radiation modulates tumor immunogenicity, and exploiting this property of radiation to improve the response to immunotherapy. Her laboratory was the first to show that radiotherapy can convert tumors unresponsive to immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors into responsive ones, a finding currently being translated in several clinical trials. She also served as the Co-leader of the Cancer Immunology program of NYU Cancer Center and Scientific Director of the Immune Monitoring Core. In September 2015 Dr. Demaria was recruited to lead the basic and preclinical studies of the research program in radiation and immunity newly created by Dr. Formenti at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

As a breast cancer pathologist Dr. Demaria has also studied the immunological microenvironment of breast cancer in patients and she is a member of an international tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TILs)-working group focused on developing a consensus for the evaluation of TILs in breast cancer. She holds leadership positions in national professional societies, including the Radiation Research Society, where she served as a Council member from 2009-2012, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) where she currently serves on the Board, and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of AACR Cancer Immunology Working Group. She is also a member of the editorial board of several journals, including Journal of Immunology, Clinical Cancer Research, Radiation Research, and the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and is a member of NIH study section.