Dr. E. John Wherry is a preeminent immunologist holding the distinguished position of Chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He simultaneously serves as the Barbara and Richard Schiffrin President's Distinguished Professor and Director of the UPenn Institute for Immunology and Immune Health, where he leads strategic initiatives to advance immunological research and clinical translation. Dr. Wherry completed his undergraduate studies at Pennsylvania State University in 1993 before earning his PhD in Immunology from Thomas Jefferson University in 2000, where he investigated epitope density effects on CD8+ cell priming under Laurence Eisenlohr. Following a formative postdoctoral fellowship with Rafi Ahmed at Emory University from 2000 to 2004, he established his independent research program at The Wistar Institute until 2010, when he joined the University of Pennsylvania, subsequently assuming leadership of the Institute for Immunology in 2012 and his current departmental chair position in 2013.
Dr. Wherry has pioneered foundational research defining T cell exhaustion as a critical biological phenomenon in chronic infections and cancer, making seminal contributions to identifying the role of the checkpoint molecule PD-1 and demonstrating how blocking this pathway can reinvigorate exhausted T cells to combat disease. His laboratory established the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying T cell exhaustion, transforming the scientific understanding of immune dysfunction in persistent disease states and providing the conceptual framework for modern cancer immunotherapy approaches. Dr. Wherry was among the first researchers to demonstrate the efficacy of co-inhibitory receptor blockade, establishing principles that informed the development of combination immunotherapies now yielding enhanced clinical outcomes for cancer patients. His discoveries have directly contributed to the scientific foundation for FDA-approved checkpoint inhibitors that have revolutionized oncology treatment paradigms and improved survival for millions of patients worldwide.
With over 330 publications in premier scientific journals including Nature, Science, Cell, and Immunity, Dr. Wherry maintains exceptional scholarly influence as one of immunology's most cited researchers. He directs the innovative Immune Health Project, which seeks to define and monitor individual Immune Health fingerprints to provide insights for intercepting, diagnosing, and treating cancer and infectious diseases, an initiative that proved particularly valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic when his laboratory made significant contributions to understanding SARS-CoV-2 immunology and vaccine responses. As Co-Program Leader of the Immunobiology Program at Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center and Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, he continues to advance cutting-edge research in immune cell epigenetics and systems immunology approaches. Dr. Wherry's ongoing work focuses on translating fundamental immunological discoveries into clinical applications, maintaining his position at the forefront of a field he has helped define and transform, with potential to further revolutionize how we diagnose and treat immune-related diseases across medicine.
