The Philadelphia Business Journal presented the 2015 Health Care Innovator Award in October in Philadelphia, naming Carl June an Individual Innovator of the Year.

Dr. June is the director of translational research at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center and a pioneer in immunotherapy to fight cancer. In 2011, his research team published findings that represented the first successful and sustained demonstration of the use of gene transfer therapy to treat cancer. Clinical trials using the approach, in which patients are treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells, are now underway for adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, as well as adults and children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He and his team hope to continue to refine this approach in order to use it to treat patients with different types of cancers.