Andrew Zloza

Andrew Zloza, MD, PhD, is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Cell Therapy.

Dr. Zloza earned his BS in Chemical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) as part of the IIT/Rush University Honors Program in Engineering and Medicine. He completed MD and PhD (Immunology/Microbiology) studies as part of the Rush Physician Scientist MD PhD Program. He further trained as a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) postdoctoral fellow (NIH T32) in Cancer Immunology and Tumor Vaccine Research at The University of Chicago.

Prior to returning to Rush in 2018, Dr. Zloza served as the Section Chief of Surgical Oncology Research and founding Director of the Immune Monitoring Shared Resource at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Zloza directs a research group funded by NIH R01, R44 (SBIR), and industry-sponsored grants. His laboratory focuses on: 1) defining basic mechanisms by which pathogens and anti-pathogen vaccines alter the host immune response to cancer and 2) developing translational microbial-based cancer therapies (MBCTs) to improve patient outcomes. Towards this they create: 1) highly relevant and personalized humanized mouse models consisting of autologous patient-derived tissues and immune cells (i.e. from the same patient), and 2) novel biotechnologies (including specialized immuno-nanoparticles).

In recognition of his successes as a young investigator, Dr. Zloza has been awarded the 2015 Chambers-eBioscience Memorial Award by the American Association of Immunologists and a Junior Faculty Award at the 3rd Annual Immuno-Oncology Young Investigator’s Forum in 2017.

Research Areas

Cancer immunotherapy, microbial-based cancer therapies (MBCTs), “bugs as drugs”, cancer vaccines, immune-reconstituted patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models, cancer immuno-nanoparticles

Education

MD, Rush Medical College

PhD, Rush Graduate College

BS, Illinois Institute of Technology