Suzanne Louise Topalian (born 1954) is an American surgical oncologist. She is the Bloomberg-Kimmel Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy in the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In this role, she studies human anti-tumor immunity.
Suzanne Topalian | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1954 (age 69–70) |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Nature's 10 (2014) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | BA, English, Wellesley College MD, 1979, Tufts University School of Medicine |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine National Cancer Institute |
Early life and education
editTopalian was born to father Malcolm F. Topalian in Alpine, New Jersey. Her father was the president of the Topalian Trading Company, a rug concern in New York.[1] She played piano growing up and won first prize in a Tri-State competition.[2] Upon graduating from high school, Topalian received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1979.[3] She then completed her residency in general surgery at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia under the guidance of Surgical Residency Director Herbert Cohn.[4] Following this, she held two fellowships at both the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and National Cancer Institute (NCI).[3]
Career
editUpon completing her fellowship at NCI in 1989, Topalian intended to leave but was persuaded to stay and work with tumor immunologist Steven Rosenberg.[5][4] She remained at the institute's Surgery Branch for 21 years before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University to lead the Melanoma Program in the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.[3] Her work with the program led to a landmark publication in 2012 showing that nivolumab (Opdivo) produced dramatic responses in people with advanced melanoma and in those with lung cancer.[6][7] Following this study, Topalian also found that the drug Opdivo caused some patients to have lasting responses that continued even after stopping the drug.[8] She was later named one of Nature's 10 in 2014 for her ability to establish immunotherapy as an important treatment modality in cancer.[5]
As the Director of the Melanoma Program, Topalian researches modulating immune checkpoints such as PD-1 and PD-L1 in cancer therapy, and discovering biomarkers predicting clinical outcomes following treatment.[3] In 2015, she was the recipient of the David Karnofsky Memorial Award for her contributions to the research of cancer.[9] The following year, Topalian returned to her original research on Opdivo and found that over one-third of advanced melanoma patients were still alive five years after starting therapy with the cancer drug.[8] While continuing to study human anti-tumor immunity, Topalian was elected to the American Association of Physicians[10] and named the co-recipient of the Taubman Prize Awarded for Ground-Breaking Work in Cancer Immunotherapy.[11] In October 2017, Topalian was elected to the National Academy of Medicine as someone who has "made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health."[12]
In 2018, Topalian was appointed the Bloomberg-Kimmel Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy in the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.[13] She was also elected to serve on Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc.'s Scientific Advisory Board.[14]
Personal life
editTopalian married Drew Pardoll in 1993.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b "WEDDINGS; Suzanne Topalian and Drew Pardoll". The New York Times. June 20, 1993. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Wins music prize". The Record. March 26, 1966. Retrieved May 16, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Melanoma Research Experts". hopkinsmedicine.org. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ a b Piana, Ronald (June 3, 2016). "Surgical Oncologist Suzanne L. Topalian, MD, Shines at the Forefront of Groundbreaking Research in Cancer Immunotherapy". ascopost.com. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ a b "365 days: Nature's 10". Nature. 516 (7531): 311–319. December 17, 2014. Bibcode:2014Natur.516..311.. doi:10.1038/516311a. PMID 25519114. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ Pollack, Andrew (June 1, 2012). "Drug Helps Defense System Fight Cancer". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ Topalian, Suzanne L. (June 28, 2012). "Safety, Activity, and Immune Correlates of Anti–PD-1 Antibody in Cancer". The New England Journal of Medicine. 366 (26): 2443–54. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1200690. PMC 3544539. PMID 22658127.
- ^ a b Reinberg, Steven (April 18, 2016). "Drug Seems to Extend Survival for Advanced Melanoma Patients". medicinenet.con. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Dr. Topalian Named David Karnofsky Memorial Award Recipient for her contributions to the research of cancer". horizonweekly.ca. June 11, 2015. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Johns Hopkins Physicians Elected to And Honored by Association of American Physicians and American Society for Clinical Investigation". hopkinsmedicine.org. April 26, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Taubman Prize Jointly Awarded to Suzanne L. Topalian, MD, and Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, for Groundbreaking Work in Cancer Immunotherapy". ascopost.com. June 25, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Seven Faculty Members Among New Electees to National Academy of Medicine". hopkinsmedicine.org. October 16, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Faculty appointments and promotions: June 2018". hub.jhu.edu. June 20, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
- ^ "Dragonfly Therapeutics Adds World-Leading Cancer Immunotherapy Experts to its Scientific Advisory Board". newswire.ca. October 8, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
External links
edit- Suzanne L. Topalian publications indexed by Google Scholar