PITTSBURGH – UPMC Hillman Cancer Center immunologist, Greg Delgoffe, Ph.D., is the first recipient of the newly established Sy Holzer Endowed Immunotherapy Research Fund to advance innovative research in cancer immunotherapy. 

The fund was established to honor Holzer’s philanthropic work as the long-time president of PNC and his many years of service as chair of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Council. The fund has been supported through leadership gifts made by many local and national individuals, foundations and corporations, including Robert and Christina Pietrandrea, Jay Cleveland and Cleveland Brother Equipment, the Heinz Endowments, the Hillman Foundation, the Buncher Foundation and the Stanley M. Marks, M.D., Research Fund, among others.

Delgoffe, assistant professor of immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, also is a research scientist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center’s Tumor Microenvironment Center. His laboratory seeks to understand how cancer cells use fuel from their local environment, starving infiltrating immune cells and preventing them from attacking cancer cells. This research may lead to new therapies that will stimulate the immune system.