Wei-zen Wei PhD

Wei-Zen Wei, Ph.D., professor of Oncology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Institute, has accepted the invitation to serve as chair of the National Institutes of Health’s Cancer Immunopathology and Immunotherapy Study Section, Center for Scientific Review.

Dr. Wei, who also is associate center director of Basic Science for the Karmanos Cancer Institute, will serve as chair for a term beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2014.I am honored to serve as chairperson for this very important study section with the National Institutes of Health,Dr. Wei said. The study of immunopathology and immunotherapy presents an exciting new frontier in the treatment of cancer by allowing researchers to learn how to enable the human body’s own immune system to fight cancer cells. I look forward to working with a panel of national experts to help advance this revolutionary therapeutic modality.

Section members are selected on the basis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors. Service on a study section comes with a major commitment of professional time and energy and affords members a unique opportunity to contribute to the national biomedical research effort.

Dr. Wei made national and international headlines when her lab became the first in the world to develop a HER2 DNA vaccine, which prevented laboratory mice from succumbing to hard-to-treat HER2-positive breast cancer. HER2-positive breast cancer accounts for 20 percent to 30 percent of diagnosed breast cancers in humans.