Michael Jensen, MD

Dr. Michael Jensen is developing personalized immunotherapies for young patients with cancer. Specifically, he studies an approach called T-cell therapy. In this strategy, T cells — a type of immune cell — are genetically reprogrammed in a lab to target a patient’s cancer cells. Then, they are returned to the patient’s body to kill the tumor cells. His goal is to provide cures for children with cancer without the debilitating side effects of today’s chemotherapies or radiation. Dr. Jensen and colleagues conduct clinical trials of experimental T-cell strategies they created for pediatric patients with leukemia and lymphoma. They continue to refine these approaches while crafting T-cell therapies for young patients with other forms of cancer. Dr. Jensen directs the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.