W. Martin Kast MS, PhD

W. Martin Kast, PhD is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Urology, and Otolaryngology at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC) of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. He holds the Walter A. Richter Cancer Research Chair and is the Director of the NCCC Tumor Micro-environment program, and the Director of the USC Medical Biology & Infectious Diseases Immunology and Pathogenesis Graduate Programs. The Director of the Beckman Center for Immune Monitoring, the Director of the K-12 Cancer Education Program, and the Associate Dean of Academic Integrity. A native of the Netherlands, he earned his BS, MS, and PhD summa cum laude, from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is serving on multiple Study Sections including the National Institute of Health and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. His research involves the design of therapeutic cancer vaccines directed against human papillomavirus (HPV) and prostate cancer. Several of his therapeutic HPV vaccines have currently been tried out in clinical trials. He studies HPV cell entry and the interaction of HPV with the human immune system to find out how HPV escapes immune detection and how to reverse that. His research is supported by NIH grants. He is an editor for the journal Cancers. He also served as the secretary/treasurer of the International Papillomavirus Society from 2012-2019 and serves on the advisory board of 6 biotechnology companies. In October 2022, he published a book entitled Oncology which is meant for Elementary Schools serving underrepresented minority students together with his daughter Dr. Dieuwertje J. Kast. In his free time, he is a Scoutmaster and an actor.