Harvey Cantor

Dr. Harvey Cantor is the Baruj Benacerraf Professor of Immunology in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School and Department of Cancer Immunology & Virology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). He has chaired the Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS at DFCI and the Program in Cancer Immunology and directs NIH postdoctoral training programs in AIDS research and cancer immunology. He received the 2019 Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Immunologists in recognition of his exemplary career contributions to a future generation of scientists.  

Cantor discovered that the immune response is regulated by two lineages of T cells that recognize different classes of MHC molecules and mediate distinct immunological functions. These studies established conceptual basis for therapeutic approaches to diseases such as AIDS and cancer and remain a cornerstone of our current understanding of cellular immunology. Recent work has provided insight into origins of immunological self-tolerance and treatment of autoimmune disease.

He received his BA from Columbia University and MD from the New York University School of Medicine followed by fellowship training at the NIH, two years as an NIH Special Fellow at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, London, and a residency in medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center before joining the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.