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Immunology

Welcome to The MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences graduate program in Immunology. The Immunology Graduate Program is designed to provide high-quality, comprehensive education and research training in the exciting field of immunology, allowing graduates to successfully pursue careers as independent investigators in academia or industry.

Train with Us

Principles of immunology have been applied to create numerous preventative and curative therapeutics for many types of human disease. The GSBS Program in Immunology is an inter-institutional activity with faculty and laboratories located in the UTHealth McGovern Medical School and School of Dentistry, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, all committed to excellence in graduate student education and research. 

We currently have 74 faculty members from both MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston representing 26 departments. Collectively, research conducted by our faculty reflects the complexity and diversity of the immune system. Main areas of faculty research include cancer immunology, infectious diseases, and inflammation with special interests in innate responses, adaptive responses, immune regulation, development of prophylactic vaccines, and development of vaccines or immunotherapy for a form of cancer, allergy or autoimmunity. Faculty members are committed to fostering a highly interactive and supportive environment that enables students to complete our rigorous curriculum and receive advanced training in basic and translational immunology research.

Antibodies attacking a virus Immunology Header

Student Achievements

  • Research Award Recipients

    Congratulations to these Immunology Program students for their accomplishments during the 2025 Immunology Program Retreat:

    Post-Candidacy Poster Winners

    Ruparoshni Jayabalan 
    Advisor: Dr. Mauro Di Pilato 

    Haoyue Liu
    Advisor: Dr. Florencia McAllister 

    Ivana William 
    Advisor: Dr. Michael Curran 

    Pre-Candidacy Poster Winners

    Ricardo Gonzalez-Delgado 
    Advisor: Dr. Mauro Di Pilato

    Shruthi Kannan
    Advisor: Dr. Pavan Bachireddy

    Emily Bontekoe
    Advisor: Dr. Alexandre Reuben 

    Pre-Candidacy Oral Presentation Winners

    Rachel Morris 
    Advisor: Dr. Kristen Pauken 

    Thierry Iraguha 
    Advisor: Dr. Jason Schenkel

    Jocelynn Colunga Minutti 
    Advisor: Dr. Roza Nurieva

    Yu-Sung (Kevin) Hsu
    Advisor: Dr. Katy Rezvani and Dr. Hind Rafei

    Post-Candidacy Oral Presentation Winners

    David Won 
    Advisor: Dr. Cassian Yee 
    Guillaume Trusz
    Advisor: Dr. Michael Curran 
    Paulina Horton
    Advisor: Dr. Pamela Wenzel 
  • 2025-2026 Scholarship Award Recipients

    Congratulations to these Immunology Program students for their accomplishments during the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

  • 2025 Research Excellence Award Recipients
    Ivana William  
    Advisor: Dr. Michael Curran 
    Hao-Nien Chen  
    Advisor: Dr. Dihua Yu  
  • 2025-2026 Fellowship Recipients

    Congratulations to these Immunology Program students on receiving fellowship grants for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:

    • Annette Wu- 2026 Marilyn and Frederick R. Lummis, Jr., M.D., Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences 

Student Activities

  • Program Retreat

    Each year the Immunology Program sponsors a student-organized research retreat, which includes student talks, poster sessions, and a keynote speaker. The retreat is considered to be valuable time away from the laboratory allowing students and faculty to become better acquainted with each other.

  • Seminar Series

    The CCIR-Immunology Trainee Seminar Series is a weekly seminar attended by faculty, students, postdocs, and other researchers. It offers an opportunity for GSBS students, postdocs, and other early-career researchers to present their research findings, receive feedback, and foster collaborations and interactions. Trainees at all stages are encouraged to present their work, even if their project is early in development and their findings are preliminary. Each seminar features two speakers, with each speaker allotted ~20 minutes for their presentation, followed by ~10 minutes for questions and discussion per speaker. The series is organized by a student committee and two faculty advisors, Dr. Gheath Al-Atrash and Dr. Matt Gubin.

    The series is sponsored by the GSBS Immunology Program, the Department of Stem Cell Transplantation & Cellular Therapy, and the Department of Immunology, which provide support, as well as funds to provide lunch to attendees.

Student Committees

  • Immunology Student Council

    An annual retreat is organized by Program students who develop retreat sessions and invite a nationally renowned scientist to present at the plenary talk. All the students in the Program present their research either in a poster or oral presentation to Program faculty.

    2025-2026 Committee Members:

    • Alec Solis
    • Emily Bontekoe
    • Guillaume Trusz
    • Rachel Morris
    • Ricardo Delgado-Gonzalez
    • Sarah Schneider

  • CCIR Seminar Committee

    Students are encouraged to attend cancer immunology-related seminars offered by the Center for Cancer Immunology Research (CCIR) and the Center for Inflammation and Cancer (CIC); both Centers are based at MD Anderson and specializing in translational immunology research.  The seminars are wonderful opportunities for students to learn about research led by accomplished scientists. The CCIR also holds seminars in which students, postdoctoral fellows and PhD-level research staff give talks about their projects, and in return they receive feedback regarding presentation style, experimental design and interpretation of results from faculty.  

    2025-2026 Committee Members:

    • Hao-Nien 
    • David Won
    • Aya Albittar

    Dr. Matthew Gubin, Faculty Advisor 
    Dr. Gheath Al-Atrash, Faculty Advisor

Contact Us

Reuben-Alexandre.jpg Director
Alexandre Reuben PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology
713-745-3014
[email protected]
MDA T8.3904 (Unit 432)
Alatrash-Gheath.jpg Co-Director
Gheath Al-Atrash DO, PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Stem Cell Transplantation
713-563-3324
[email protected]
MDA 2SCR4.2016 (Unit 0900)
Scott_Ariel.jpg

Ariel Scott 
Program Coordinator
713-745-0662
[email protected]
BSRB S3.8328 
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