Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, is Executive Director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is the System Chief of Oncology Clinical Services of the UNC Health System. His NIH-funded laboratory studies anti-tumor immunity and mechanisms of tumor escape, with a focus on reversing immune evasion through monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. Dr. Ferris has published more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific and clinical publications that have garnered more than 65,000 citations and an h-index >120. He was lead investigator of several practice-changing, prospective randomized trials, including Checkmate-141 (published in NEJM in 2016), which led to the FDA approval of Nivolumab for head and neck cancer, and ECOG 3311 (published in JCO in 2021), testing radiation dose-deintensification after transoral robotic surgery (TORS) for HPV+ oropharynx cancer, which was incorporated into the NCCN guidelines. He currently leads ECOG-ACRIN 3132, using p53 mutational testing in HPV-negative cancer, to predict response to adjuvant radiation versus chemoradiation. Dr. Ferris has served on the editorial boards of JNCI, JCO, Clinical Cancer Research, and Cancer Immunology Research. He co-chaired the NCI Steering Committee for Head and Neck Cancer. He served as a standing member of NCI Committee A reviewing Cancer Centers and previously chaired the NIH Tumor Microenvironment study section. In 2025, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.