Dr. Paolo A. Ascierto obtained his medical degree from the University of Naples, Italy, where he subsequently earned his Board Certification in Oncology. He went on to serve consecutive positions at the National Tumour Institute “Fondazione G. Pascale”, in Naples, as a postdoctoral fellow and then as Vice Director of the Department of Clinical Immunology.  

Professor Ascierto is currently Director of the Unit of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy and Innovative therapy at that same institution. He is Associate Editor for Annals of Oncology and Chief Section Editor of the Journal of Translational Medicine. He is an active member of the Italian Society of Medical Oncology (AIOM), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and Society of Immuno Therapy of Cancer (SITC). 

Professor Ascierto has presided as Principal Investigator on over 50 clinical trials and he is the author of numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research. His major research interests are the genetics and proteomics of melanoma, the assessment of molecular markers for tumour progression in melanoma, management of targeted therapies for melanoma, vaccination treatments and immunotherapy of cancer, biochemical and immunological monitoring, and combination approaches for the cancer treatment.