Dr. Sharma is a nationally and internationally renowned physician scientist who is a pioneer in the field of immune checkpoint therapy. In 2006, Dr. Sharma designed and conducted the first neoadjuvant (pre-surgical) clinical trial with immune checkpoint therapy. She designed and conducted multiple clinical trials, which eventually led to FDA-approval of immune checkpoint therapy for cancer patients, including patients with bladder cancer as well as patients with renal cell carcinoma. She conducted key experiments to define biologic pathways that are involved in anti-tumor responses, including ICOS + effector T cells and tertiary lymphoid structures. She also performed innovative studies to define mechanisms of resistance to immune checkpoint therapy, including loss of signaling in the IFN-pathway, VISTA, and epigenetic pathways such as EZH2. In addition, she identified organ-specific immune responses that contribute to resistance of bone metastases to immune checkpoint therapy. Her detailed laboratory studies have allowed her to design and implement rational combination clinical trials to overcome resistance mechanisms. Currently, Dr. Sharma focuses her effort on a “reverse translation” process that encompasses studies on human immune responses to generate hypotheses related to mechanisms of tumor rejection, which she tests in appropriately designed pre-clinical models, and subsequently uses the new data to design novel clinical trials to improve outcomes for patients with cancer. Dr. Sharma is the Director of Scientific Programs for the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center.