Ton Schumacher performed his Ph.D. research from 1988-1992 at The Netherlands Cancer Institute where he studied the interactions of MHC class I molecules with antigenic peptides in the laboratory of Hidde Ploegh. After a brief stint as a post-doc in the laboratory of Hidde Ploegh at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the group of Peter Kim at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, USA in 1994. In 1996 he joined The Netherlands Cancer Institute, where he is currently Senior Member, to study the development of T cell immunity through biotechnological approaches. Schumacher is recipient of, amongst others, The Amsterdam Inventor Award, Queen Wilhelmina Cancer Research Award, Meyenburg Cancer Research Award, William B. Coley Award, and Stevin Prize. Next to his position at The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Schumacher is involved in the development of novel immunotherapeutics in biotech and in venture capital.

Catherine Wu, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies, at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians. She is also the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Sjoberg Award. Wu received her MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, and completed her clinical training in Internal Medicine and Hematology-Oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber. She joined the staff at Dana-Farber in 2000. At Dana-Farber, she has initiated an integrated program of research and clinical activities that focuses on dissecting the basis of effective anti-tumor immunity. Wu's laboratory has focused on the use of genomics-based approaches to discover immunogenic antigen targets, and to understand the molecular basis of therapeutic response and resistance. She has led early phase clinical trials to test personalized tumor vaccines in melanoma and glioblastoma.