Michael Atkins graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Chemistry in 1976 and Tufts Medical School in 1980. He then did Internal Medical Residency, Chief Residency, Hematology-Oncology Fellowship followed by ten years on staff at Tufts-New England Medical Center. At T-NEMC he performed research as leader of the national Cytokine Working Group involving interleukin-2, the first immunotherapy, that led to its FDA approval for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma or kidney cancer. He moved to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 1997 where he was appointed Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and served as Deputy Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and leader of the Biologic Therapy and Cutaneous Oncology Programs, Co-PI of the Harvard Skin Cancer Specialized Program for Oncology Research Excellence (SPORE), founding leader of the DF/HCC Kidney Cancer Program and Director of the DF/HCC Kidney Cancer SPORE. In 2012, he moved to Georgetown University where he is Deputy Director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and William M. Scholl Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Oncology. His current research focuses on immunotherapy for melanoma and kidney cancer and development of biomarkers for treatment response and toxicity. This work has contributed to the approval over 30 treatments for melanoma and kidney cancer and laid the groundwork for the application of these treatments to many other cancers. He has published over 600 peer-reviewed articles (H-Index 135) which have been cited over 117,000 times and 5 books and has lectured extensively on these topics. He is past president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), and past member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Council and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Nominating Committee. He currently serves on the Melanoma Research Foundation Board of Directors and co-chairs its Scientific Advisory Council. He is a 2021 recipient of the OncLive Giant in Cancer Care Award for Melanoma and in 2022 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Immunotherapy from SITC. He was inducted into SITC’s 2023 Class of Fellows of the Academy of Immuno-Oncology (FAIO) and in 2024 became a Fellow of ASCO (FASCO). He was an active member of TUAA for 25 years including over 15 years on the TUAA Awards Committee. He is married to Susan Crockin, JD (A76) a pioneer in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology Law and an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School. Together they have three children Benjamin, Melea and Jonathan (A16).
Michael Atkins, A76, M80, A16P