Dr. Axel Hoos is Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Area (TA) Head for Oncology R&D and Head of Immuno-Oncology at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK). In this role he leads the Oncology TA and builds the immuno-oncology portfolio of GSK across the modalities of antibodies, small molecules, bispecific molecules and cell & gene therapies, for which he directs discovery and development.
Dr. Hoos also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), a Global Health organization, Director on the Board of Imugene, a biotech company, Co-Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC) and Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI).
His efforts in Medicines Development and Global Health focus on novel therapies for life-threatening diseases, scientific and procedural innovation, and broad collaboration across multiple constituents. Through his leadership a new paradigm for the development of cancer immunotherapies has been defined, which helped launch the field of Immuno-Oncology.
Previously, Dr. Hoos was the Global Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he developed Yervoy (Ipilimumab), the first life-extending therapy in Immuno-Oncology. Before BMS, Dr. Hoos was Senior Director of Clinical Development at Agenus Bio (previously Antigenics), a biotech company.
Dr. Hoos holds an MD from Ruprecht-Karls-University and a PhD in molecular oncology from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) both in Heidelberg, Germany. He trained in surgery at the Technical University in Munich, Germany and further in surgery, molecular pathology and tumor immunology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is an alumnus of the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.