- Jodi Fisher Horowitz Professor in Leukemia Care Excellence, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. David Porter is the Jodi Fisher Horowitz Professor in Leukemia Care Excellence and Director of Cell Therapy and Transplantation at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and currently serves as President of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT).
Dr. Porter led the first-in-human adult clinical trials of CTL019 (tisagenlecleucel, Kymriah) — the CAR-T cell therapy that became the first such therapy approved by the FDA — together with Carl June and the broader Penn cell therapy team. His ongoing clinical research extends adoptive cellular therapy from hematologic malignancies into autoimmune disease, where B cell–directed CAR-T approaches are reshaping the treatment landscape for severe, refractory systemic lupus erythematosus, myositis, systemic sclerosis, and related conditions.
Dr. Porter co-directs the Penn Colton Center of Excellence in CAR-T for Autoimmune Disease and is a senior leader in Penn’s cellular therapy enterprise, partnering across academia and industry to translate engineered cell therapies into rigorous, multi-center trials. His leadership has positioned Penn as the international hub for the next wave of cell therapy in autoimmunity.
