Sam Blackman

Sam Blackman is a physician-scientist trained in pediatric hematology-oncology and pediatric neuro-oncology. For over 10 years he has been focused on the early clinical development of novel cancer therapeutics and has held various positions of increasing responsibility within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. In his current position, he is focused on the translational and clinical development of novel small molecule immunomodulators. Prior to this role, he was Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development at Silverback Therapeutics where he was responsible for end-to-end clinical development of novel protein-based immunotherapeutics for cancer. His experience also includes work Juno Therapeutics, where he was responsible for leading the clinical development of novel cellular immunotherapeutics for leukemia, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies and high-affinity T cell receptor (TCR) therapies. He was responsible for the design and implementation of the pediatric development strategy for dabrafenib and trametinib while at GlaxoSmithKline, which represent two of the earliest industry-sponsored “basket trials” for pediatric cancer. Dr. Blackman is a graduate of the pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, and the pediatric residency program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He received his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and Department of Pharmacology, and his undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago.