Directory Entry For: Robert Mitchell
Biography
Dr. Robert A. Mitchell is a Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Immunotherapy, the Brown Endowed Chair of Cancer Biology and the UofL Health Brown Cancer Center Deputy Director for Basic and Translational Research. He holds joint appointments in the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. Dr. Mitchell has been studying inflammation, innate immune responses, cancer cell biology, tumor microenvironment and tumor immunology for over 20 years and he has been continuously R01 funded since 2004.
Research Interests
Dr. Mitchell has received funding and/or is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Jewish Heritage Foundation, the American Lung Association, the Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Program and the UofL School of Medicine. His research is primarily focused on the study of immune tolerance in tumor biology. Specifically, his work focuses on the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) family of cytokines and their independent and coordinated influences on myeloid lineage-dependent T cell suppressive mechanisms which govern tumor-associated immune evasion and subsequent disease progression. He and his laboratory have developed numerous patented pharmaceutical agents that are designed to treat malignant and nonmalignant diseases and they are currently evaluating whether these compounds have a specific role in governing MIF-dependent mitochondrial homeostasis that dictates myeloid cell immune suppression.
Degrees and Certifications
Albany Medical College, 1994-1998