Dr. Puzanov is an associate director of the Phase I Drug Development Program, clinical director of Renal Cancer, and associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In this role, he also serves as Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) mentor.
His major interests are phase I drug development with emphasis on combination immune and targeted therapy development in melanoma and renal cell carcinoma as well as novel drug design, including histology-agnostic trial development of targeted therapies. As the Associate Director of Phase I Drug Development Program at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Puzanov also provides advice on regulatory requirements and necessary steps associated with advancing drugs, devices, and imaging agents toward clinical trials in humans.
His interest in immunotherapy started in early 1990s in the laboratory of Dr. Vinay Kumar, where they established IL-15 as the cytokine for NK cell development. His has continued with IL-2 studies conducted with the Cytokine Working Group and recently studies with both CTLA-4 and PD1/PDL-1 targeted therapies.
Dr. Puzanov received his medical degree from Charles University in the Czech Republic. He completed an internship at the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, and a hematology-oncology followship at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.