Matthew Vesely

Background

About Matthew Vesely

My overall career goal as a physician-scientist are to integrate fundamental immunology with clinical dermatology. More specifically, to become an independent investigator studying the molecular basis of cancer immunotherapy and autoimmunity with a clinical focus on the cutaneous consequences of cancer immunotherapy in addition to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. For my graduate thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Schreiber at Washington University in St. Louis, I demonstrated that tumor-specific antigens drive the process of cancer immunoediting and helped develop the concept of using cancer genomics for neoantigen discovery and targeting with cancer vaccines. As a consequence, the expertise gained in skin immunology and the emerging immunotherapies to treat melanoma inspired me to become a dermatologist. My hope is to build a career focusing on the identification of novel cancer immunotherapies for cutaneous malignancies as well as elucidating the dysregulated immunopathogenesis of autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Currently, I am pursuing postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, who pioneered targeting the PD-1 axis for cancer immunotherapy and has discovered multiple novel immune checkpoint molecules. My current work focuses on understanding the role of inhibitory T cell receptors in cancer immune escape and autoimmunity to develop better targeted immunotherapies.