Bio
Crystal L Mackall MD is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at Stanford University. She serves as Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Associate Director of Stanford Cancer Institute, Leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program and Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford. During a 27 year tenure culminating as Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, NCI, and now through the Mackall Lab at Stanford (https://med.stanford.edu/mackalllab.html), she has led an internationally recognized translational research program focused on immunooncology. She has conducted numerous early phase and first-in-human and first-in-child clinical trials spanning dendritic cell vaccines, cytokines, and adoptive immunotherapy using NK cells and genetically modified T cells. Her work is credited with identifying an essential role for the thymus in human T cell regeneration and discovering IL-7 as the master regulator of T cell homeostasis. Her group was among the first to demonstrate impressive activity of CD19-CAR in pediatric leukemia, developed a novel CD22-CAR with impressive activity in leukemia and lymphoma refractory to CD19 targeting, and is leading exciting work focusing on CAR T cell therapy for brain tumors. Her group has identified T cell exhaustion as a major feature limiting the activity of CAR T cellsRecently her group has developed novel approaches to prevent and reverse human T cell exhaustion. Dr. Mackall’s clinical trials are notable for incorporation of deep biologic endpoints that further our understanding of the basis for success and failure of novel immunotherapeutics. She is the recipient of numerous awards and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American Academy of Physicians. She serves in numerous national leadership positions, including co-PI on the NCI Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Network (U54), Leader of the NCI Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network, and co-Leader of the St. Baldrick’s-StandUp2Cancer Pediatric Dream Team. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Internal Medicine.
Clinical Focus
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Academic Appointments
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Professor, Pediatrics - Hematology & Oncology
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Professor, Medicine - Blood & Marrow Transplantation
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Member, Bio-X
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Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
Administrative Appointments
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Founding Director, Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy (2017 - Present)
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Director, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford (2016 - Present)
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Associate Director, Stanford Cancer Institute (2016 - Present)
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Leader, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program, Stanford Cancer Institute (2016 - Present)
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Director, Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Department of Pediatrics (2016 - Present)
Honors & Awards
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Lila and Murray Gruber Memorial Cancer Research Award and Lectureship, American Academy of Dermatology (March 2018)
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BJ Kennedy Keynote Lecturer, Masonic Cancer Center, Minneapolis, MN (2018)
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Top 10 Clinical Research Award for New CAR-T Cell Therapy for Relapsed Leukemia, Top 10 Clinical Research Award (2018)
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Chair, Pediatric Cancer Working Group, American Association for Cancer Research (2017-18)
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Stephen Max Memorial Lectureship, University of Maryland (2017)
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Warren Stow Distinguished Lectureship, MD Anderson Cancer Center (2017)
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Nitschke-Kaskake Visiting Professorship, Oklahoma City Children's Hospital (2016)
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G. Burroughs Mider Lectureship, National Institutes of Health (2015)
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Member, Association of American Physicians (2015)
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William Hathaway Visiting Professor Award, University of Colorado (2015)
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Co-Leader, St.Baldrick's/StandUp2Cancer Pediatric Dream Team (2013-present)
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Alexandra Scott Lectureship in Pediatric Oncology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2013)
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Director's Award, National Institutes of Health (2013)
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Great Teacher Lectureship, National Institutes of Health (2012)
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Vineberg Lectureship, Montreal Children's Hospital (2011)
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Alex Koufos Memorial Lectureship, Akron Children's Hospital (2009)
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Merit Award, National Institutes of Health (2007)
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Member, Best Doctors in American (2006-present)
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Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation (2005)
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Distinguished Alumni Award, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (2004)
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Commendation Medal, United States Public Health Service (2003)
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Director's Award, National Cancer Institute (2003)
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Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award, National Institutes of Health (2000)
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Member, Alpha Omega Alpha, Honorary Medical Society (1984)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Executive Board, Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) (2001 - 2002)
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Member, Biologic Response Modifiers Advisory Committee, Food and Drug Administration (2002 - 2003)
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Member, NIH Central Tenure Committee (2004 - 2008)
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Education Committee, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2006 - 2009)
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Member, DNA Advisory Committee, US Food and Drug Administration (2008 - 2008)
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Advisory Board for Clinical Research, NIH Clinical Center (2008 - 2012)
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Vice Chair and Chair, Scientific Committee on Immunology and Host Defense, American Society of Hematology (2011 - 2012)
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Member, Immunology Steering Committee, American Association for Cancer Research (2013 - 2014)
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Chair, Program Committee on Immunology, American Association for Cancer Research (2014 - 2015)
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Chair-Elect, Pediatric Cancer Working Group, American Association for Cancer Research (2015 - 2017)
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Member, Committee on Scientific Affairs, American Society of Hematology (2016 - 2017)
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Chair, Pediatric Cancer Working Group, American Association for Cancer Research (2017 - Present)
Professional Education
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Board Certification: American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatrics (1989)
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Board Certification: American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology (2017)
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Fellowship: National Cancer Institute - Center Cancer Research (1992) MD
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Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (1989)
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Residency: Akron General Hospital (1988) OH
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MD, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Medicine (1984)
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Medical Education: Northeastern Ohio Universities (1984) OH
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BS, University of Akron, Natural Sciences (1980)
Patents
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Rimas Orentas, Ira Pastan, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent 61/549,516 Anti-CD22 Chimeric Antigen Receptors, patent pending", National Cancer Institute
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Rimas Orentas, Ira Pastan, Crystal Mackall, Dimiter Dimitrov. "United States Patent 61/717,960 M971 Chimeric Antigen Receptors, patent pending", National Cancer Institute
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Dimiter Dimitrov, Rimas Orentas, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent 61/805001 Anti-CD276 polypeptides, proteins and chimeric antigen receptors, patent pending", National Cancer Institute
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Rimas Orentas, Dimiter Dimitrov, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent 61/900,906 ALK Antibodies, Conjugates and Chimeric Antigen Receptors, patent pending", National Cancer Institute
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Terry Fry, Haiying Qin, Crystal Mackall, Rimas Orentas. "United States Patent 62/135,442 Dual Specific Anti-CD22-Anti-CD19-Chimeric Antigen Receptors, patent pending", National Cancer Institute
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Crystal Mackall, Yongzhi Cui. "United States Patent 62/216,447 Anti-CD276 Chimeric Antigen Receptors, patent pending", National Cancer Institute
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Jay Berzofsky, Lee Helman, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent 7,867,977 A Peptide Epitope and Improvement Thereof Inducting T Cell Immunity to Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma in HLA-B7 positive Individuals.", National Cancer Institute
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Hokyung Kay Chung, Michael Z Lin, Crystal Mackall, Robbie Majzner, Louai Labanieh. "United States Patent 62/694,830 Chimeric Antigen Receptor Polypeptides and Methods of Using Same", Leland Stanford Junior University, Jul 16, 2018
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Crystal L Mackall, Michelle Monje, Christopher Mount, Robbie Majzner. "United States Patent 041839 CAR T cell therapy to treat H3K27M midline gliomas", Leland Stanford Junior University, Jul 12, 2018
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Tom Wandless, Rachel Lynn, Sanjay Malhotra, Evan Weber, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent 025394 Transiently regulated CAR-T cells engineered to prevent T-cell exhaustion and improve immunotherapy", Leland Stanford Junior University, Mar 30, 2018
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Tom Wandless, Rachel Lynn, Sanjay Malhotra, Evan Weber, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent PCT/US2018/025459 Methods of Treating T Cell Exhaustion by Inhibiting Modulating T Cell Receptor Signaling", Leland Stanford Junior University, Mar 30, 2018
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Rachel Lynn, Evan Weber, Crystal Mackall, Elena Sotillo. "United States Patent 62/599.299 Compositions and Methods for Inhibiting T Cell Exhaustion", Leland Stanford Junior University, Dec 15, 2017
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Jay Berzofsky, Lee Helman, Crystal Mackall. "United States Patent 12/092,449 Immunogenic Peptides And Methods Of Use For Treating And Preventing Cancer", National Cancer Institute, May 2, 2008