Nicola Mason

Dr. Mason is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She runs a Translational Research Laboratory developing immunotherapeutics for use in canine companion animals with cancer and autoimmunity. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in bringing immunotherapies to the veterinary field through the performance of clinical trials in companion animals. Dr. Mason has pioneered comparative approaches to immuno-oncology and autoimmunity, utilizing companion animals to guide and inform human drug development. Dr. Mason leads the first canine CAR T cell therapy clinical trial in canine patients with B-NHL and leads the NCI’s first Canine Cancer Immunotherapy Trials network as part of the Cancer Moonshot program. She is a recipient of the NIH Directors Transformative R01 Awards for her collaborative work with Dr. Aimee Payne using dogs with spontaneous autoimmunity to inform the use of genetically engineered T cells to treat pemphigus in human patients.