James Allison

MD Anderson Cancer Center

James Allison shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that blocking the immune checkpoint protein CTLA-4 unleashes T cells to attack tumors, founding the field of immune checkpoint therapy. His work became the drug ipilimumab, the first checkpoint inhibitor approved by the FDA. He chairs the Department of Immunology at MD Anderson and is also an accomplished harmonica player.