Brent HanksView profile
Associate Professor
Brent Hanks, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He functions as a laboratory-based physician-scientist with clinical responsibilities managing advanced skin cancer patients and those with upper gastrointestinal malignancies. Dr. Hanks leads the Hanks Lab, which focuses on understanding tumor-mediated immune evasion mechanisms and developing strategies to overcome immunotherapy resistance. His research spans tumor-intrinsic mechanisms of immune evasion, tumor-driven manipulation of dendritic cell functionality, and the role of tumor-mediated innate training in immunotherapy resistance and associated toxicities. His work integrates transgenic mouse tumor models, clinical specimens, and bioinformatic approaches to investigate adaptive immunotherapy resistance, dendritic cell tolerization in the tumor microenvironment, EMT-associated tumor immune evasion, and mechanisms contributing to immunotherapy-associated toxicities. This research program aims to translate fundamental biochemical and metabolic pathway discoveries into early-phase clinical trials. Dr. Hanks' scientific contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards including election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2024, the V Foundation 30th Anniversary Gala Therapy Resistance Award, and multiple Young Investigator Awards from major cancer research organizations. His laboratory team includes research faculty, postdoctoral associates, graduate students, and research technicians working collaboratively to advance cancer immunotherapy. The lab has active recruitment for additional postdoctoral associates and graduate students interested in tumor immunology and immunotherapy research.










