Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD is Assistant Professor and Director of Translational Research of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Beatty trained at Bucknell University (BS, Chemical Engineering, 1995) and the University of Pennsylvania (Immunology, PhD, 2000; MD, 2004; Residency 2004-2006; Medical Oncology Fellow, 2006-2010). In 2012, he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and since, has produced multiple advancements in our basic understanding of the immune reaction to cancer and novel clinical strategies for treatment of cancer patients.

Dr. Beatty directs a discovery laboratory that incorporates both basic science research and clinical investigation. The mission of Dr. Beatty’s research is to define mechanisms of resistance and response to cancer immunotherapy for informing effective strategies to condition tumors and patients for enhanced therapeutic responsiveness. His basic science has revealed that the inflammatory reaction to cancer that is commonly supportive of cancer growth can be redirected with anti-cancer properties using immune agonists. His research has shown that cancer inflammation is also a barrier to standard of cancer cytotoxic therapies and is therefore, a therapeutic target for improving clinical outcomes. In the clinic, Dr. Beatty has led pivotal first-in-human clinical trials investigating CAR T cells for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. He has also led studies investigating strategies to target cancer inflammation, including CD40 agonists and inhibitors of IDO and JAK. Recently, his work has shown a role for macrophage metabolism in the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy and his research has identified a novel role for hepatocytes in supporting cancer metastasis to the liver. Past awards include ASCO Young Investigator award (2009), Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation award (2012), Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development award (2013), PanCAN-AACR Career Development award (2015), SU2C Innovative Research Grant award (2017), and Robert Fine Cancer Research Foundation Grant award (2019).