Neil Bander

Dr Bander is a physician-scientist trained in urological oncology and tumour immunology, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre (NY). After joining the faculty of Cornell University Medical College (now Weill-Cornell Medical College) and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, he has directed both a laboratory effort and translational clinical research program to discover and clinically develop monoclonal antibodies for targeted cancer imaging and therapy. He currently holds the Bernard and Josephine Chaus Chair in Urological Oncology and is Director of Urological Oncology Research at Weill Cornell where he is a tenured Professor and a Member, Department of Surgery (Urology) at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. Neil’s team has the world’s largest experience in antibody discovery and clinical development in urological oncology. His group developed the first series of monoclonal antibodies to prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) that could target and bind viable prostate cancer cells. In large part as a result of Neil’s efforts, PSMA has become recognized as the most prostate-cancer specific cell surface antigen known and a target of significant interest in academia and bio-pharma. His team and collaborators have developed PET imaging agents as well as radiolabeled- and drug-conjugated antibodies that have entered phase 1 and 2 clinical trials now extending to a dozen leading academic medical centres in the US and Europe. Neil’s collaborations extend beyond academia and he has and continues to, serve as a consultant and Advisory Board member to several bio-pharmaceutical companies. He is a past member of the Weill Cornell-Pfizer Centre for Technological Innovation Joint Steering Committee. Antibodies developed in his lab have been licensed to multiple bio-pharma companies for further development and commercialization. Neil has authored approximately 175 peer-reviewed publications, and he is an inventor on approximately 100 US and foreign issued and pending patents. He has served on, and chaired, multiple study sections and grant review panels.