Edus Houston Warren, Ph.D., M.D.
Edus Houston Warren, Ph.D., M.D.
Professor, Program in Immunology
Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch
Program Head
Global Oncology Program, Fred Hutch
Professor
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutch
Dr. Edus "Hootie" Warren is a renowned researcher who contributed to the development of adoptive T-cell therapy, which harnesses the body’s immune system to block cancers. He now heads Global Oncology at Fred Hutch, which is dedicated to reducing the burden of cancers worldwide. He oversees the Hutch’s relationships in international collaborations such as the UCI-Fred Hutchinson Cancer Centre in Kampala, Uganda. He also leads the China Initiative, a partnership that includes the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Henan Cancer Hospital. His efforts are focused on cancers caused by infectious diseases that are preventable or treatable — up to 20 percent of the world’s cancers. They include lymphoma from Epstein-Barr virus, sarcomas associated with HIV, cervical cancer from human papillomavirus and liver cancer from hepatitis B and C. Dr. Warren’s research in Uganda aims to develop new methods for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancers such as HIV-associated non-Hodgkin lymphoma and the childhood cancer Burkitt lymphoma.
Other Appointments & Affiliations
Attending Physician
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Professor of Medicine
University of Washington School of Medicine
Education
Fellow, Medical Oncology; University of Washington 1993-1996
Intern and Resident, Internal Medicine; Massachusetts General Hospital; 1991-1993
M.D., Harvard Medical School, 1991
Ph.D., Neurobiology; Harvard University, 1988
A.B., Applied Mathematics; Harvard College, 1982
Research Interests
High-throughput Sequencing of T- and B-Cell Antigen Receptor Repertoires
Mechanisms of Cancer Regression After Immune Checkpoint Inhibition
Immunology and Immunotherapy of Kidney Cancer
Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention of Pediatric and Adult Lymphomas in Sub-Saharan Africa
Immunobiology of Graft-versus-Host Disease and the Graft-versus-Tumor Effect
Clinical Expertise
Dr. Warren is an oncologist specializing in the treatment of patients with blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. He is an Attending Physician at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, University of Washington, and Seattle Children’s Hospital, where he serves on both the Medical Oncology/Hematologic Malignancy and the Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Services. He has considerable experience as an investigator on clinical trials of novel agents for the treatment of blood cancers, and served as the Principal Investigator on a Phase I clinical trial of T cell immunotherapy for patients with relapse of acute leukemia or high-grade myelodysplasia after HLA-identical allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).
Research Focus
The overall focus of Dr. Warren’s laboratory is cancer immunology. His particular interest is the mechanisms and molecules that mediate graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft-versus-tumor (GVT) activity after allogeneic HCT, as well as the mechanisms that mediate tumor regression after treatment with other modes of immunotherapy such as immune-checkpoint inhibition. His lab has extensive experience with characterization and manipulation of human T and B lymphocytes, identification of antigens recognized by T and B lymphocytes, comprehensive analysis of T- and B-lymphocyte repertoires with the aid of high-throughput DNA sequencing, and assessment of adoptive cellular therapy in murine models. Dr. Warren’s laboratory also has a strong research focus on lymphomas that affect children and adults in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Burkitt lymphoma (BL).
"One of our major goals is to figure out how we can adapt the incredibly exciting work that’s done here so that it can benefit people around the world."
— Dr. Hootie Warren
Dr. Warren in the News
For the Media
The Media Relations team at Fred Hutch is available to assist members of the news media who would like to arrange interviews with faculty.
Email media@fredhutch.org or call 206.667.2210