Dr. Shannon Turley

Vice President, Department of Immunology and Regenerative Medicine, Genentech

Dr. Shannon Turley

Dr. Turley joined Genentech in 2014 after 10 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Turley was recruited as a Principal Scientist in Cancer Immunology where she built a group devoted to the detailed study of how cancer immunity is controlled by the tumor stroma and, more generally, the tumor microenvironment. Her team was responsible for building the tumor microenvironment division and for establishing multiple current and clinical pipeline programs in Cancer Immunology. Dr. Turley and her laboratory have made significant discoveries in the field of stromal regulation of immunity that have been published in high impact peer reviewed papers and inspired research and drug development approaches across multiple inflammatory diseases and cancers. Dr. Turley was appointed to Senior Director in 2020 when she took on responsibility for supporting the entire Cancer Immunology pipeline. She was then appointed Vice President of Cancer Immunology Discovery in 2021. In 2022, Dr. Turley moved into her current role where she is responsible for Immunology, Regenerative Medicine and Ophthalmology portfolios from early-stage research to clinical development and 23 laboratories focused on discovery, validation and drug targeting of relevant foundational pathways, cell types and tissues using diverse drug modalities. In addition to her organizational leadership roles, Dr. Turley continues to lead her own research program focused on elucidating molecular and cellular circuitries within evolving stromal niches that influence chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, cancer and fibrosis. Dr. Turley received her PhD from Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Turley has published more than 140 peer reviewed papers and patents, serves on numerous advisory, editorial and grant review boards and has been the recipient of prestigious awards including the Frederick Alt New Discoveries in Immunology Award from the Cancer Research Institute. Her graduate work focused on MHC class II antigen presentation in dendritic cells under the supervision of Dr. Ira Mellman (Yale University) and Nobel Laureate, Dr. Ralph Steinman (Rockefeller University). Dr. Turley carried out her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Drs. Diane Mathis and Christophe Benoist at Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School. Her postdoctoral research focused on mechanisms of T cell tolerance induction and antigen presentation by dendritic cells at the initiation of autoimmune diabetes.