Dr. David Akhavan is an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kansas. He completed his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, CA, and his M.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the Medical Scientist Training Program. Then, Dr. Akhavan, in collaboration with Dr. Tim Cloughesy, went on to complete his Ph.D. in Dr. Paul Mischel’s laboratory, studying the mechanisms of resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Akhavan then completed his residency in radiation oncology at the City of Hope National Medical Center. There, he completed embedded postdoctoral training at the T Cell Research Laboratory (TCTRL) in the laboratory of Dr. Christine Brown, studying CAR T cells for glioma. He is a member of the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center Scientific Advisor Committee, a member of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy, and a member of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer. Dr. Akhavan also conducts an active research laboratory developing cell-based immunotherapy targeting malignant brain tumors, including Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells. His laboratory focuses on a molecular dissection of tumor antigen loss, T cell exhaustion, and cell manufacturing bottlenecks.