CICET Welcomes Dr Maksim (Max) Mamonkin!

Dr. Maksim Mamonkin is a laboratory-based investigator who earned his PhD in Immunology from Baylor College of Medicine in 2013, followed by postdoctoral training with Malcolm Brenner, MD, PhD. He was appointed to the Baylor faculty in 2018 as a tenure-track investigator in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy.

His research focuses on the immunobiology of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and the development of new cellular therapies for malignant and non-malignant diseases. He has pioneered CAR T-cell therapies for T-cell malignancies, work that has progressed into early-phase clinical trials for both pediatric and adult patients with relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and T-cell lymphomas.

At Columbia, Dr. Mamonkin has joined the faculty as Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy (CICET). He will establish his own laboratory within CICET, where he will continue to advance CAR T-cell therapies for relapsed and refractory T-cell malignancies and develop novel engineered T-cell strategies for pediatric cancers—including leukemias, lymphomas, brain tumors, and other high-risk solid tumors.

In addition, within the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, Dr. Mamonkin will serve as Director of Laboratory and Translational Research. In this leadership role, he will foster laboratory-based and translational research initiatives, partner with clinical investigators in early-phase trial development, strengthen collaborations between clinical and laboratory faculty, mentor fellows and junior faculty, and, importantly, serve as a bridge between Pediatrics and CICET’s transformative research mission.