Padmanee Sharma

Dr. Padmanee Sharma, Director of Scientific Programs for James P. Allison Institute and Scientific Director of Immunotherapy Platform at MD Anderson Cancer Center

Padmanee Sharma (born June 26, 1970) is an immunologist and oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She is the T.C. and Jeanette Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology and professor of genitourinary medical oncology and immunology in the Division of Cancer Medicine where she specializes in renal, prostate, and bladder cancers. Sharma is currently Director of Scientific Programs for the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center; the inaugural Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform, and Co-Director of Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.[1]

Research

Sharma's research focuses on cancer immunotherapy and the mechanisms that determine responses to immune checkpoint blockade.[2][3][4]

Early in her career, Sharma investigated cancer-testis antigens, including NY-ESO-1, as targets for cancer immunotherapy and characterized their expression in urothelial carcinoma.[5] She subsequently studied immune responses to NY-ESO-1 vaccination[6]

More recently, Sharma's research has focused on identifying biomarkers and immune mechanisms associated with responses to immune checkpoint blockade.[7] Her studies have reported that TET2-mutated clonal hematopoiesis is associated with enhanced antitumor immune responses and improved clinical outcomes in several solid tumors treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.[8] Her group has studied immune correlates of response and resistance to checkpoint blockade, including prostate cancer studies of the bone tumor microenvironment[9] and pan-tumor analyses of immunologic signatures associated with nivolumab and ipilimumab treatment.[10]

Education

Honors

  • 2021 Jack and Beverly Randall Prize for Excellence in Cancer Research[11]
  • 2021 Heath Memorial Award[12]
  • 2020 Women in Science with Excellence (WISE) Award[13]
  • 2018 Pandolfi Award for Women in Cancer Research [14]
  • 2018 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology[15]
  • 2008 Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award[16]
  • 2003 ASCO Young Investigator Award[17]
  • 2002 Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award[18]

Personal life

Sharma was born June 26, 1970, in Guyana.[19] She is married to longtime collaborator, James P. Allison and has three daughters from a previous marriage.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D." The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "Parker-backed cancer scientists shine a light on an emerging pathway in pancreatic cancer". endpts.com. Endpoints News. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  3. ↑ "Sharma Stresses Importance of Refining Immunotherapy in GU Cancers". Onclive.com. OncLive. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  4. ↑ Sharma, Padmanee; Allison, James P. (2015). "The future of immune checkpoint therapy". Science. 348 (6230): 56–61. Bibcode:2015Sci...348...56S. doi:10.1126/science.aaa8172. PMID 25838373. S2CID 4608450.
  5. ↑ "Frequency of NY-ESO-1 and LAGE-1 expression in bladder cancer and evidence of a new NY-ESO-1 T-cell epitope in a patient with bladder cancer". Cancer Immunity Archive. 3 (1): 19. January 2003.
  6. ↑ Sharma, Padmanee; Bajorin, Dean F.; Jungbluth, Achim A.; Herr, Harry; Old, Lloyd J.; Gnjatic, Sacha (2008). "Immune responses detected in urothelial carcinoma patients after vaccination with NY-ESO-1 protein plus BCG and GM-CSF". Journal of Immunotherapy. 31 (9): 849–857. doi:10.1097/CJI.0b013e3181891574. PMID 18833002.
  7. ↑ Liakou, Christina I.; Kamat, Ashish; Tang, David N.; Chen, Hong; Sun, Jianhua; Troncoso, Pedro; Logothetis, Christopher; Sharma, Padmanee (2008-09-30). "CTLA-4 blockade increases IFNγ-producing CD4+ICOShi cells to shift the ratio of effector to regulatory T cells in cancer patients". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (39): 14987–14992. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10514987L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0806075105. PMC 2567465. PMID 18818309.
  8. ↑ Herbrich, Shelley; Chaib, Mehdi; Anandhan, Swetha; Andrewes, Samuel W.; Nagarajan, Ashwat; Guan, Baoxiang; Gandhi, Nishant; Gilliam, Jared; Radovich, Milan; Sharma, Padmanee (2026-01-12). "TET2-mutant clonal hematopoiesis enhances macrophage antigen presentation and improves immune checkpoint therapy in solid tumors". Cancer Cell. 44 (1): 187–202.e7. doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2025.09.011. PMC 12628548. PMID 41106379.
  9. ↑ Subudhi, Sumit K.; Siddiqui, Bilal A.; Aparicio, Ana M.; Yadav, Surbhi S.; Basu, Sumit; Chen, Hui (2021). "Combined CTLA-4 and PD-L1 blockade in patients with chemotherapy-naïve metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is associated with increased myeloid and neutrophil immune subsets in the bone microenvironment". Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 9 (10) e002919. doi:10.1136/jitc-2021-002919. PMC 8524287. PMID 34663638.
  10. ↑ Tsimberidou, Apostolia M.; Alayli, Farah A.; Okrah, Kwame; Drakaki, Alexandra; Khalil, Danny N.; Kummar, Shivaani; Khan, Saad A.; Hodi, F. Stephen; Oh, David Y. (2024-10-07). "Immunologic signatures of response and resistance to nivolumab with ipilimumab in advanced metastatic cancer". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 221 (10) e20240152. doi:10.1084/jem.20240152. PMC 11349049. PMID 39190534.
  11. ↑ "Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D." The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "The Heath Memorial Award Recipients" (PDF). The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "BioHouston Honoring Women at 11th Annual WISE Luncheon". PKF Texas. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, Receives Pandolfi Award for Women in Cancer Research". ascopost.com. The ASCO Post. Retrieved 27 October 2025.
  15. ↑ "Three Scientists to Receive Top Honors from the Cancer Research Institute for Outstanding Contributions to Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy". cancerresearch.org. Cancer Research Institute. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  16. ↑ "Challenge Awards-Class of 2008". pcf.org. Prostate Cancer Foundation. 24 October 2008.
  17. ↑ "Grant & Award Recipients". conquer.org. The ASCO Foundation. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  18. ↑ "Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 10th Anniversary Report" (PDF). ddcf.org. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  19. ↑ "Professor Padmanee Sharma". What is Biotechnology?. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  20. ↑ "Cancer-fighting power couple tackles mysteries of the immune system". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
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