Dr. Finn is University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor of Immunology and Surgery and Founding Chair of the Department of Immunology, the position she held from 2001 to 2013. She was Program Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute from 1991 to 2014.
After receiving her PhD in Immunology at Stanford University in 1980, and completing her postdoctoral training there in 1982, Dr. Finn moved to Duke University and in 1991 to the University of Pittsburgh. She gained prominence through her original focus on transplantation biology and later through her basic and applied research focused on tumor antigens and the development of cancer vaccines. Her current efforts are on the development of preventative cancer vaccines.
Dr. Finn is an active member of the American Association of Immunologists, where she served as President in 2007-2008. She is also member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). She has served on NCI study sections and was a member of the NCI Board of Councilors. She has trained 25 PhD and MD/PhD students in her laboratory and over 70 postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Finn is the recipient of the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award, the NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, the AACR CIR Lloyd Old Cancer Immunology Prize and the SITC Richard V. Smalley Memorial Award, a prestigious award for clinicians and scientists who have an enormous impact on cancer immunotherapy research.