Lisa M. Coussens is an American cancer scientist who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology and Deputy Director for Basic and Translational Research in the Knight Cancer Institute at the

Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public university, public research university, research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded ...

. She served as 2022-2023 President of the

American Association for Cancer Research The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest professional association related to cancer research. Based in Philadelphia, the AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research, including Basic research, basic, ...

Early life and education

Coussens was an undergraduate student at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. She worked at Genentech, Inc. (1981-1988) with Axel Ullrich PhD researching growth factor receptors and cloned the

HER2 Receptor tyrosine-protein kinase erbB-2 is a protein that normally resides in the membranes of cells and is encoded by the ''ERBB2'' gene. ERBB is abbreviated from erythroblastic oncogene B, a gene originally isolated from the avian genome. The ...

proto-oncogene. She moved to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

for her doctoral research, where she studied

JUNB Transcription factor jun-B is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''JUNB'' gene. Transcription factor jun-B is a transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a p ...

expression. She was a postdoctoral researcher working with

Douglas Hanahan Douglas Hanahan (born 1951) is an American biologist, professor, and Director Emeritus of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research at EPFL (École polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a Distinguishe ...

at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

where she used transgenic mouse models of multi-stage cancer progression and demonstrated that chronic inflammation is established in early cancers and subsequently drives tumor development. Her later research has identified critical immune-regulatory programs that represent cancer vulnerabilities that can be therapeutically targeted to slow cancer progression.

Research and career

Coussens' research considers immune therapies for cancer treatment. To do this, she looks at how immune cells regulate aspects of tumor cell development and the role of leukocytes. She makes use of breast, HPV-associated squamous, pancreas and mesothelioma mouse cancer models, in combination with human cancer specimens, to identify immune-regulated pathways that may be susceptible to therapeutic targeting. Coussens showed that some immune cells are hijacked to promote tumor growth and metastasis. She uncovered the intra-cellular communication processes which cause tumor cells to trigger CD4

T cell T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell ...

s to recruit macrophages to early tumors. Macrophages are white blood cells that are usually involved with clearing debris, but produce epidermal growth factors when they are close to tumor cells, which promotes the proliferation and invasion of tumor cells. Her research has emphasized the need to understand the tumor microenvironment in understanding cancer progression. She showed that dying cancer cells release factors that induce a CD8⁺ T cell-mediated immune response against cancer. In 2022, Coussens was elected President of the

Awards and honors

* 2001

Gertrude B. Elion Award * 2012 AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship * 2015

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

13th Rosalind E. Franklin Award * 2018 Doctor in Medicine from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

* 2018 12th AACR-Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship * 2018 Career Award from the European Academy of Tumor Immunology * 2018 Susan G. Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science * 2018 Elected as Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

* 2019 Elected Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy * 2022 Elected Fellow of the Academy of Immuno-Oncology (Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)) * 2022 Elected President of the American Association for Cancer Research * 2023 Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) * 2023 15th Margaret L Kripke Legend Award For Promotion of Women in Cancer Medicine and Cancer Science * 2024 Elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine

Selected publications

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coussens, Lisa Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni San Francisco State University alumni Oregon Health & Science University faculty Fellows of the AACR Academy American cancer researchers American women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the National Academy of Medicine Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences