Speaker
Vinod Balachandran, M.D., FACS
Director, The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines
Hutham S. Olayan and Robert F. Raucci Chair
Associate Member, Immuno-Oncology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute
Associate Attending Surgeon, Hepatopancreatobiliary Service
Department of Surgery
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Vinod Balachandran is a surgeon-scientist and the Founding Director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering, an academic biohub dedicated to advancing next-generation precision cancer vaccines.
In 2017, Dr. Balachandran’s group made the striking discovery that exceptional survivors of pancreatic cancer have immune-activated tumors densely infiltrated with T cells that recognize highly immunogenic, mutation-derived neoantigens. This insight has spurred intensive efforts to identify, validate, and deliver immunogenic neoantigens to therapeutically phenocopy the exceptional survivor state. Dr. Balachandran’s team has led these groundbreaking efforts, including launching the first clinical trial of precision mRNA neoantigen vaccines for pancreatic cancer. The promising results of this trial have galvanized further work to uncover and apply the principles of successful vaccination to pancreatic cancer and other similarly hard-to-treat diseases. Given that pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, advancing effective interceptive or therapeutic approaches are urgently needed.
Vinod has received numerous honors for his pioneering work, including the 2023 Trailblazer Prize for Clinician-Scientists from the Foundation for the NIH.
Point of Contact
Contact person: Anda Vlad, M.D., Ph.D.
Contact email: anda.vlad@nih.gov
Key information
- Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
- Time: 3:00pm EDT to 4:00pm EDT
- Location: Virtual via Webex