David co-founded Allogene Therapeutics, a biotechnology company with a mission to catalyze the next revolution in cancer treatment through the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy directed at blood cancers and solid tumors. David previously served as Executive Vice President, Research & Development, and Chief Medical Officer of Kite, a Gilead Company. He has an industry-leading track record of innovation in the field of oncology drug development, including the development of YESCARTA™ (axicabtagene ciloleucel), the first CAR T therapy approved for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. From 2002 to 2014, he held senior leadership roles at Amgen, including Vice President of Global Development and Head of Hematology-Oncology. During this time, David spearheaded personalized therapy strategies that underlined the success of Vectibix^® (panitumumab). He also provided therapeutic area leadership to pivotal programs for Blincyto^® (blinatumomab) a bispecific T cell engager antibody in acute lymphocytic leukemia and for IMLYGIC™ (talimogene laherparepvec) a first-of-its-kind oncolytic immunotherapy, in melanoma. Prior to joining Amgen, David held dual appointments as Associate Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He obtained a B.S. degree in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University. David completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a fellowship in medical oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellow. David serves as a Director at A2 Biotherapeutics and Peloton Biotherapeutics, and as a Venture Partner at Vida Ventures.

Our Patient warrior is Teri Sturdivant, a brave mother of three, who along with her husband Will has battled cancer following chemo and radiation, with therapies created by David and his teams Teri has been cancer free for two years after an incredibly tough two-year journey.