Speakers: Jonathan Mitchem, MD

Jonathan Mitchem, MD

Assistant Professor – Surgery
School of Medicine
Core Faculty, Informatics Institute
University of Missouri

Dr. Mitchem is a colorectal surgeon and tumor immunologist focused on improving the treatment of colorectal cancer patients using immune based therapy.  Major advances have recently been made in the treatment of several difficult to treat malignancies using immune based therapy.  These advances, however, have not been efficacious for the majority of patients with colorectal cancer despite a wealth of data demonstrating that anti-tumor immunity is important in this disease.  To better apply immune therapies in colorectal cancer, we must understand two things- why immune therapy works for some patients and how current therapy effects anti-tumor immunity.  Dr. Mitchem’s lab, the Tumor Rejection through Immune Activation Laboratory (TRIAL), is focused on answering these questions by marrying a translational basic science lab with an informatics based approach to the analysis of patient data.  With collaboration across disciplines answering fundamental questions about how we treat patients, we hope to push the envelope to improve the care of patients with cancer.