Dr. Leonid Metelitsa is a Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. His research centers on NKT cells' role in tumor immunity and NKT cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Notably, he identified NKT cells' presence in human primary tumors and their correlation with positive outcomes. Dr. Metelitsa pioneered methods for NKT cell isolation, genetic modification with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), and clinical-scale expansion. Recently reported results of the first-in-human clinical testing of CAR-NKT cells demonstrate that the therapy is well tolerated and produces objective responses in children with relapsed/resistant neuroblastoma.