Dr. Claudia Palena is the Head of the Tumor Immunoregulation Section in the Center for Immuno-Oncology (CIO) of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), NCI. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the National University of Rosario, Argentina, and joined the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology (now CIO, NCI) as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2000. Dr. Palena was awarded Tenure at the NIH and promoted to Senior Investigator in 2017. Her research focuses on the development of novel immune-based therapies aimed at targeting critical mechanisms of tumor progression. Her laboratory has demonstrated a role for cancer cell plasticity in tumor resistance to immunotherapy, leading to the development and translation of a cancer vaccine that targets a driver of tumor plasticity, the transcription factor brachyury. Dr. Palena’s current research aims at elucidating strategies that modify the tumor and its microenvironment to enhance cancer control in the context of immunotherapies. She has also been working on the development of cytokine and NK-based therapies, with a focus on rare neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Palena has published more than 90 scientific papers and given national and international invited lectures. She has mentored over 25 fellows and is a member of several mentoring committees at the NCI. Her dedication to mentorship has been recognized with the 2024 NCI Director’s Outstanding Mentorship Award. She has been an active member of the scientific community, participating in multiple committees and in various advisory roles. She has received several team awards, including a SITC Team Science Award and the 2021 NCI Director's Awards for the Center of Excellence in Immunology Steering Committee, and for Oversight of Programmatic Vision as a member of the CCR Science Board. Dr. Palena has been actively involved with the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) as an editor for JITC for the last 7 years, serving first as an Associate Editor and CoSection Editor for the Clinical/Translational Section, and currently as Co-Section Editor for the Basic and Translational Cancer Immunology Section.