Dr. Jeffrey Rathmell studies T cell biology with a focus on metabolic mechanisms that regulate lymphocyte fate and function. He has developed an interdisciplinary basic and translational research program using genetic and biochemical approaches to discover immunometabolic and microenvironmental mechanisms that drive cancer and autoimmunity. After undergraduate studies at the University of Northern Iowa, he received his PhD in Immunology at Stanford University. He then performed postdoctoral studies at the University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania prior to joining the faculty at Duke University and subsequently Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In this time, he showed that lymphocyte metabolism is dynamically regulated and was the first to show that each T cell subset adopts a specific metabolic program. He has explored these metabolic pathways to identify molecular targets to modulate immune cells in inflammatory diseases or in tumor microenvironments to enhance immunotherapy. He joined Vanderbilt in 2015 to found and direct the Vanderbilt Center for Immunobiology as the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Immunobiology. Dr. Rathmell is co-leader for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Program in Host-Tumor Interactions and leads the Obesity-Cancer Connection Mark Foundation Endeavor Award Team.