Positions

Overview

  • Dr. Leavenworth joined UAB Neurosurgery as an Assistant Professor on Oct. 1, 2016. Previously, Dr. Leavenworth was at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University. Dr. Leavenworth completed medical school at Nantong University (NTU) School of Medicine, Nantong, Jiangsu, China. She then finished her PhD training in molecular biology, microbiology and biochemistry with a focus on immunology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She was at Harvard Medical School since 2009 serving as a research fellow (Postdoc) and then as an instructor.

    • Selected Publications

    Research Overview

  • Dr. Leavenworth's main research interest is to understand the mechanisms of self-tolerance underlying the innate and adaptive immune responses, with the long-term goal of translating these findings into new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of immune disorders. Her current research is focused on the definition and manipulation of effector and regulatory subsets within the inflamed (central nervous system) or tumor microenvironment, seeking effective immunotherapeutic approaches to these disorders. Dr. Leavenworth's lab has also been evaluating immune responses to oncolytic HSV-based therapies of patients with recurrent gliomas, which are currently in Phase I trials. Combined with murine glioma models, her lab is dissecting mechanisms underpinning the intersection of brain tumor, immunity and oncolytic virotherapy with the goal of stratifying patients for this therapy and developing new or combined immunotherapies. The research projects at Dr. Leavenworth's lab are supported by the internal and extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US. Department of Defense (DoD).

    • Principal Investigator On

    Investigator On

    Education And Training

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences, Southern Illinois University/Carbondale 2009
  • Doctor of Medicine, Nantong University 2001

    • Full Name

  • Jianmei Leavenworth