John Thompson, MD

Dr. John Thompson has devoted his career to developing better ways to treat kidney cancer and melanoma. His clinical research efforts focus on novel therapies such as cancer immunotherapy, specially activated lymphocytes and cytokines, and the use of blood stem cell transplants. Dr. Thompson was part of the Fred Hutch team that reported the first successful use of a human patient’s own infection-fighting T-cells as the sole therapy to put an advanced solid-tumor cancer — in this case, melanoma — into long-term remission without radiation or chemotherapy.

Dr. Thompson leads the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Program for Solid Tumors at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Researchers in this program work with local biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms to develop novel therapies for patients with solid tumor cancers. Dr. Thompson’s goal is to speed the translation of the most promising experimental approaches into clinically useful therapies that can improve the lives of thousands of patients each year.