Wesley Wilson, PhD
Wesley Wilson, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has been acknowledged as a 2021 “40 Under 40 in Cancer.” The award recognizes contributions being made across the field of cancer by rising stars and emerging leaders under the age of 40. Wilson has been working in cancer research for more than a decade with a focus on developing new therapies for hard-to-treat diseases like childhood brain tumors, adult mesothelioma, and multiple myeloma, the latter of which he is studying at Penn using CAR T-cell therapy. His specialties include focusing on modulation of the immune response to cancer using a variety of tools and technologies to characterize the cancer immune response and then leveraging cutting-edge immunotherapies such as checkpoint blockade immunotherapy and CAR T cell therapy to continue to deliver improved responses for patients. In receiving the award, Wilson was recognized as one of the nation’s most promising young oncology professionals whose contributions have helped to improve the lives of those affected by cancer.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
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