Kunle Odunsi

Dr. Odunsi is the Cancer Center Deputy Director at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. He is also Professor and Chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology, the M. Steven Piver Endowed Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at RPCI; and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Buffalo. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Immunotherapy at RPCI. He is Co-Chair of the NCI Cancer Task Force of the Gynecological Cancer Steering Committee, and a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on “The State of the Science in Ovarian Cancer Research”. He has served on several Scientific Review Study Sections of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and is a reviewer of the French National Cancer Institute, Swiss Cancer League, Italian Association for Cancer Research, Hong Kong Cancer Institute, and the Ontario Regional Cancer Institute. He is on the Editorial Boards of “BMC Cancer”, “Journal for the Immunotherapy of Cancer”, “Gynecologic Oncology” and “Cancer Immunology Research”. Dr. Odunsi has implemented protocols for multi-institutional immunotherapy clinical trials under the NCI Cancer Immunotherapy Network (CITN) and the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative (CVC) of the Cancer Research Institute and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He is the Principal Investigator of an NCI funded multi-million dollar Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in ovarian cancer and is also Principal Investigator of a multi-million dollar grant from NYSTEM to pioneer a novel strategy of re-programming human mature T cells and hematopoietic stem cells for generating sustained attack against ovarian cancer in patients. Dr. Odunsi is the author or co-author of more than 250 journal publications or book chapters. He has a medical degree from the University of Ife in Nigeria and completed his postgraduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Rosie Maternity and Addenbrookes Hospitals, University of Cambridge, UK. He completed a research fellowship in Molecular Oncology and earned his Ph.D. at the Imperial Research Fund Laboratories Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine and his clinical fellowship at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Odunsi is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Anna-Marie Kellen Clinical Investigator Award from the Cancer Research Institute. In 2019, Dr. Odunsi was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Membership of the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the field of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to service and professional achievement.