John B.A.G. Haanen is professor by special appointment at the department of clinical oncology of the Leiden University Medical Center. In addition, John Haanen is Head of the Division of Medical Oncology at The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

More information about John Haanen

John B.A.G. Haanen is professor by special appointment at the department of clinical oncology of the Leiden University Medical Center. In addition, John Haanen is Head of the Division of Medical Oncology at The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy can be considered the most important breakthrough in cancer treatment of the past 15 years. Unfortunately, despite this improvement only a fraction of patients benefit long-term. A better understanding of the mechanism of action of current immunotherapies and the way our immune system fights cancer, will lead to further improvement and more individualized ways of treatment. Translational research is necessary to reach these goals. My current focus in cancer immunotherapy is directed at novel cell therapy approaches for the treatment of solid cancers, including TIL, CAR-T and TCR-T.

Immunotherapy is a very costly treatment. More cost-effective use of immunotherapies also serves a societal purpose.

Academic career

Thesis defence: November 13, 1991: Functional analysis of Human Mycobacterium Leprae-specific CD4+ helper T cell clones.

Inaugural lecture endowed professorship Translational immunotherapy of cancer: October 2, 2009: On research with immune cells and multilingual doctors.