Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

Baltimore gynaecologic oncologist who led the trial showing that adding trastuzumab to chemotherapy helps women with HER2-positive uterine serous carcinoma, an aggressive form of endometrial cancer.

Bert Vogelstein

Clayton Professor of Oncology; Co-Director, Ludwig Center; HHMI Investigator

Bert Vogelstein is the most-cited scientist in cancer genetics: he mapped how colorectal cancer develops and founded the field of cancer genome sequencing and blood-based detection.

Daniel K. Ludwig

Shipping magnate who endowed the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in 1971

In 1971 he put nearly all of his international holdings into a cancer research institute that carries his name reluctantly; it has since spent more than $1.8 billion of its own money on cancer science.

David H. Koch

Prostate cancer patient whose gifts built the MIT Koch Institute and the MSK Koch Center for Cancer Care

Treated for prostate cancer from 1992, he gave MIT $100 million in 2007 to build an institute that puts engineers and cancer biologists under one roof, and MSK $150 million in 2015 for a new outpatient cancer building.

Immunologist who helped define the PD-1 pathway's role in cancer and built one of the largest immunotherapy institutes.

First author of the studies that showed mismatch-repair-deficient tumours respond to PD-1 blockade regardless of origin.

Elizabeth M. Jaffee

Deputy Director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center; Co-Director, Skip Viragh Center for Pancreas Cancer

Pancreatic cancer immunologist who developed the GVAX vaccine and led national cancer policy panels.

Henrietta Lacks

Patient whose cells became the HeLa line; the case that reshaped research consent

Her cervical cancer cells, taken in 1951 without her knowledge, became HeLa, the first immortal human cell line. Her story changed how consent and family rights in research are handled.

Led CheckMate 017, the first trial to show immunotherapy beats chemotherapy in lung cancer.

Developed the MANAFEST assay to track the tumour-specific T cells that immunotherapy awakens.

Co-discovered APC, the gatekeeper gene of colorectal cancer, and co-led the first cancer genome sequences.

Michael Bloomberg

Johns Hopkins' largest benefactor; co-founder of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

In 2016 his $50 million, matched by Sidney Kimmel and others to $125 million, launched a Johns Hopkins institute that put more than a hundred scientists and clinicians to work on cancer immunotherapy.

Co-developed CancerSEEK, the blood test that showed multi-cancer early detection is possible, and ran the first prospective screening study of it.

Led CheckMate 816, which established neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy for resectable lung cancer.

The Jones Apparel founder has given $157 million to Johns Hopkins since 2001, which named its cancer centre for him, and put $50 million into the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in 2016.

Founder of cancer epigenetics, showing that abnormal DNA methylation silences tumour-suppressor genes and can be reversed by drugs.

Suzanne Topalian led the first nivolumab trials showing PD-1 blockade works across several cancers.

William Nelson is the long-time director of the Johns Hopkins cancer centre and a prostate cancer epigenetics researcher.