Lawrence H. Fong

Dr. Lawrence Fong is a medical oncologist who specializes in immunotherapy to care for cancer patients with an emphasis on genitourinary cancers (those involving the genital or urinary organs).

A physician-scientist, Fong studies new immunotherapies for cancer. He is nationally known for his work on cancer vaccines and immune checkpoint inhibitors (drugs that prevent an immune system response that can stop cancer cells from being destroyed). He has helped conduct numerous clinical trials (evaluations of potential new treatments using human volunteers) and is the principal investigator on multiple research projects that have received grants from federal agencies and private foundations. As the leader of UCSF's cancer immunotherapy program, he helps to develop new treatments through early-phase clinical trials of novel immunotherapies. His laboratory focuses on understanding why current treatments work in some patients but not others.

Fong earned his medical degree at Stanford University. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Washington. He completed an oncology fellowship at Stanford Medicine.

Fong joined the UCSF faculty in 2001 and is the Efim Guzik Distinguished Professor in Cancer Biology. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and multiple book chapters. He has lectured nationally and internationally on cancer immunotherapy.