Dustin McCurry, MD
Department of Lymphoma - Myeloma, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Instructor, Lymphoma - Myeloma, Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2017 | University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phonix, AZ, US, Medicince, Doctor of Medicine (MD) |
| 2010 | Biola University, La Mirada, CA, US, Biochemistry, Bachelors of Arts |
| 2005 | Biola University, La Mirada, CA, US, Philosophy, Bachelor of Science |
Postgraduate Training
| null-2020 | Resident, Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA |
| null-2021 | Chief Resident, Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA |
| null-2024 | Postgraduate Fellow, Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2025 | Texas Medical License |
| 2024 | American Board of Internal Medicine- Medical Oncology |
| 2020 | American Board of Internal Medicine- Internal Medicine |
| 2020 | Pennsylvania Department of State |
Experience & Service
Editorial Activities
Reviewer, Journal for the ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2022 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2025 - Present | Young Investigator Abstract Award, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer |
| 2023 | ASH Abstract Award, American Society of Hematology |
| 2023 | Best of ASH, American Society of Hematology |
| 2022 | SITC Sparkathon 2.0 Participant, Society for the ImmunoTherapy of Cancer |
| 2020 | Outstanding Teaching Resident Award, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center |
| 2017 | Outstanding Student in Internal Medicine Award, University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix |
| 2017 | Outstanding Scholarly Project Award, University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix |
| 2016 | Medical Student of the Year, Arizona Chapter of the American College of Physicians |
| 2010 | Philip E. Johnson Award, Election to Order of Peter and Paul, Torrey Honors Institute |
| 2010 | Magna Cum Laude, Biola University |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Regional Presentations
- 2017. Antigens Harbor Readily Defined and Universally Immunogenic Regions Relevant for Cancer Immunotherapy. Invited. University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix Research Symposium, US.
- 2017. A comparative analysis between quality improvement techniques to increase colon cancer screening rates at IMC clinic. Invited. University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix Academic Excellence Day, US.
- 2009. Binding Partners of Ectopically Expressed T-bet in Human Dendritic Cells. Invited. University of Pittsburgh Summer Undergraduate Research Conference, US.
- 2008. Costimulation Alters the Transcriptional Phenotype of Human CD4+CD25+ T Cells. Invited. University of Pittsburgh Summer Undergraduate Research Conference, US.
National Presentations
- 2025. Immune escape through oncogene-mediated editing of the HLA-ligandome. Invited. Annual Conference, US.
- 2025. Exploiting Immunogenomics for Development of Targeted Therapy in Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Associated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). Invited. Specialized Center of Research Program - Site Visit, US.
- 2025. Exploiting Immunogenomics for Development of Targeted Therapy in Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Associated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). Invited. Specialized Center of Research Program - Retreat, US.
- 2023. Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study of Pembrolizumab in Combination with Rituximab and Lenalidomide for Relapsed/Refractory Large B-Cell or Follicular Lymphoma Following Progression after Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy. Invited. American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, US.
- 2023. ASXL1 Truncating Mutations Drive Leukemic Resistance to T Cell Attack. Invited. American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, US.
- 2022. Melanoma Lymph Node Metastases are Associated with Hypoxia and Immunologic Dysfunction. Invited. Society for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting, US.
- 2021. Work Smarter, Not Harder: Leveraging Technology for Personal Workspace Productivity. Invited. APDIM Chief Residents Virtual Meeting, US.
- 2021. Mary-ed to Anchoring Bias, Delayed Diagnosis of a Sister Mary Joseph’s Nodule. Invited. Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, US.
- 2020. Necrotic Scalp Eschar and Neck Lymphadenopathy with Sepsis. Invited. Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, US.
- 2019. A phase I study of neoadjuvant combination immunotherapy in locally/regionally advanced melanoma. Invited. American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, US.
- 2019. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Delayed Diagnosis of a Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection. Invited. Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, US.
- 2019. Adoptive T-Cells Targeted to Tumor-Associated Antigens for Treatment of Multiple Myeloma. Invited. Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, US.
- 2018. A Phase 1 study of Neoadjuvant Combination Immunotherapy with Pembrolizumab (P) and High Dose IFN-a2b (HDI) in Locally/Regionally Advanced Melanoma. Invited. Society for Melanoma Research Congress, US.
- 2014. Vaccine maneuvers which reverse tolerance to MUC1 require antigenic diversity to mediate protection and delay immunoedited escape variants. Invited. Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Conference, US.
- 2013. Culture conditions promoting innate immunity and homeostatic proliferation generate highly enriched, MUC1- or HER2/neu-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Invited. American Association of Immunology Annual Meeting, US.
International Presentations
- 2018. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Delayed Diagnosis of a Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection. Diagnostic Error in Medicine. Invited. 11th International Conference, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Building T cell products in NF1-associated MPNST through antigen discovery and epigenome targeting |
| Funding Source: | DoD |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Title: | Discovery of non-canonical antigens in triple negative breast cancer for development of novel T cell therapies |
| Funding Source: | DoD |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Title: | Exploiting Immunogenomics for Development of Targeted Therapy in Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Associated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) |
| Funding Source: | Lymphoma Research Foundation |
| Role: | PI |
| Title: | Exploiting Immunogenomics for Development of Targeted Therapy in Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-Associated Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) |
| Funding Source: | Leukemia Lymphoma Society |
| Role: | Co-I |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Chen YH, Bi T, Xu M, Lee J, Lu WS, Zhuang M, Velarde AM, McCurry D, Yang H, Al-Atrash G, Rondon G, Shpall E, Jelloul FZ, Cervoni-Curet FN, Ghanem S, Kerros C, Koppikar P, Molldrem J, Garcia-Manero G, Patel A, Bachireddy P. Molecular and cellular dynamics of measurable residual disease progression in myelodysplastic syndromes. bioRxiv, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 41279348.
- McCurry D, Ge Z, Lee J, Pasumarthi R, Leng X, Koehnke T, Pasvolsky O, Raparla P, Nguyen V, Maurer K, Li S, Livak KJ, Danson E, Thakkar B, Azizi E, Soiffer RJ, Shukla SA, Majeti R, Ritz J, Wu CJ, Molldrem JJ, Bachireddy P. ASXL1 truncating mutations drive leukemic resistance to T cell attack. bioRxiv, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40661385.
- Jammihal, T, Saliby, RM, Labaki, C, Soulati, H, Gallegos, J, Peris Cuesta, A, McCurry, D, Yu, C, Shah, V, Poduval, D, El Zarif, T, El Ahmar, N, Laimon, YN, Eid, M, Sheshdeh, AB, Krajewski, KM, Büttner, F, Schwab, M, Heng, DY, Casellas, RC, Rai, K, Zacharias Millward, NM, Msaouel, P, Karam, JA, Signoretti, S, Van Allen, EM, Choueiri, TK, Braun, DA, Shukla, SA. Immunogenomic determinants of exceptional response to immune checkpoint inhibition in renal cell carcinoma. Nature Cancer 6(2):372-384, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39789182.
- McCurry D, Flowers CR, Bermack C. Immune-based therapies in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Expert Opin Investig Drugs 32(6):479-493, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37394970.
- Najjar YG, McCurry D, Lin H, Lin Y, Zang Y, Davar D, Karunamurthy A, Drabick JJ, Neves RI, Butterfield LH, Ernstoff MS, Puzanov I, Skitzki JJ, Bordeaux J, Summit IB, Bender JO, Kim JY, Chen B, Sarikonda G, Pahuja A, Tsau J, Alfonso Z, Laing C, Pingpank JF, Holtzman MP, Sander C, Rose A, Zarour HM, Kirkwood JM, Tarhini AA. Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab and High-Dose IFNalpha-2b in Resectable Regionally Advanced Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res 27(15):4195-4204, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33753453.
- Boskailo E, Malkoc A, McCurry DB, Venter J, Drachman D, Ramos GM. Assessment of inpatient psychiatric readmission risk among patients discharged on an antipsychotic polypharmacy regimen: A retrospective cohort study. Acta Med Acad 46(2):133-144, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29338277.
- Pathangey LB, McCurry DB, Gendler SJ, Dominguez AL, Gorman JE, Pathangey G, Mihalik LA, Dang Y, Disis ML, Cohen PA. Surrogate in vitro activation of innate immunity synergizes with interleukin-7 to unleash rapid antigen-driven outgrowth of CD4+ and CD8+ human peripheral blood T-cells naturally recognizing MUC1, HER2/neu and other tumor-associated antigens. Oncotarget 8(7):10785-10808, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27974697.
- Lakshminarayanan V, Supekar NT, Wei J, McCurry DB, Dueck AC, Kosiorek HE, Trivedi PP, Bradley JM, Madsen CS, Pathangey LB, Hoelzinger DB, Wolfert MA, Boons GJ, Cohen PA, Gendler SJ. MUC1 Vaccines, Comprised of Glycosylated or Non-Glycosylated Peptides or Tumor-Derived MUC1, Can Circumvent Immunoediting to Control Tumor Growth in MUC1 Transgenic Mice. PLoS One 11(1):e0145920, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26788922.
- Pardee AD, McCurry D, Alber S, Hu P, Epstein AL, Storkus WJ. A therapeutic OX40 agonist dynamically alters dendritic, endothelial, and T cell subsets within the established tumor microenvironment. Cancer Res 70(22):9041-52, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 21045144.
Review Articles
- Al Zaki A, McCurry D, Strati P. CAR T-cells and macrophages in large B-cell lymphoma: impact on toxicity and efficacy. Leuk Lymphoma 64(4):808-815, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36891619.
- Cohen PA, Ko JS, Storkus WJ, Spencer CD, Bradley JM, Gorman JE, McCurry DB, Zorro-Manrique S, Dominguez AL, Pathangey LB, Rayman PA, Rini BI, Gendler SJ, Finke JH. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells adhere to physiologic STAT3- vs STAT5-dependent hematopoietic programming, establishing diverse tumor-mediated mechanisms of immunologic escape. Immunol Invest 41(6-7):680-710, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23017141.
Abstracts
- McCurry DB. 1228 Immune escape through oncogene-mediated editing of the HLA-ligandome, 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- McCurry D, Westin J, Feng L, Ahmed S, Nair R, Steiner RE, Wynn L, Thomas J, Dsouza LH, Samaniego F, Neelapu SS, Nastoupil LJ. Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study of Pembrolizumab in Combination with Rituximab and Lenalidomide for Relapsed/Refractory Large B-Cell or Follicular Lymphoma Following Progression after Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Cohen P, Pathangey L, McCurry D, Gorman J, Viso C, Gendler S, Disis M. Culture conditions promoting innate immunity and homeostatic proliferation generate highly enriched, MUC1- or HER2/neu-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (P4419), 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- McCurry D, Deitrick C, Zang Y, Karunamurthy A, Whiteside T, Davar D. 1000 Melanoma lymph node metastases are associated with hypoxia and immunologic dysfunction, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Rocco JM, Mallarino-Haeger C, McCurry D, Shah N. Severe anaplasmosis represents a treatable cause of secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: Two cases and review of literature. Ticks Tick Borne Dis, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32723647.
- Najjar Y, McCurry D, Lin H, Lin Y, Davar D, Drabick JJ, Neves RI, Ernstoff MS, Puzanov I, Skitzki JJ, Pingpank JF, Holzmann MP, Sander C, Rose A, Kirkwood JM, Tarhini AA. A phase I study of neoadjuvant combination immunotherapy in locally/regionally advanced melanoma, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
Web Publications
- McCurry DB, Nastoupil LJ. Moving On Up: Second-line Axicabtagene Ciloleucel Improves Overall Survival in Patients With LBCL.
Patents
- Cohen PA, Gendler SJ, Pathangey LB, McCurry DB. Methods and materials for expanding antigen-specific t cells in culture. Patent Number: US20230357718A1.
- McCurry DB. Methods and vaccines for inducing immune responses to multiple different MHC molecules. Patent Number: US11464839B2.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 22, 2026