Olivera J. Finn, Ph.D. 

Dr. Finn is University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor of Immunology and Surgery. After receiving her PhD in Medical Microbiology at Stanford University in 1980 and completing her postdoctoral training in Immuno-oncology there in 1982, Dr. Finn started her research at Duke University and in 1991 moved to the University of Pittsburgh.  She gained prominence through her basic and applied research on tumor antigens and cancer vaccines. She has served on two NCI study sections and was a member of the NCI Board of Scientific Councilors.  She has been a member of the V-Foundation Scientific Advisory Council for 19 years. Dr. Finn is member of the American Association of Immunologists where she served as President in 2007/2008.  She served two terms as Councilor of the International Union of Immunology Societies (IUIS) and as Chair of the IUIS Committee on Gender Equality and Career Development.  She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). Dr. Finn received numerous awards including the AAI Life Time Achievement Award (2016), the NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (2016), the AACR CIR Lloyd Old Cancer Immunology Prize (2017) and SITC Richard Smalley Award (2019).  In 2019 she was inducted into the inaugural class of AAI Distinguished Fellows and in 2022 became Fellow of the SITC Immuno-Oncology Academy.