Seth M. Pollack

Seth M. Pollack, MD is Professor with Tenure at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, holding the Steven T. Rosen Professorship of Cancer Biology. He serves as Director of the Sarcoma Program and Co-Leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Initiative at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Pollack is an internationally recognized physician-scientist whose research focuses on overcoming resistance to T cell–based therapies in sarcomas. His laboratory investigates immune evasion mechanisms in 'immune-cold' sarcoma subtypes like MHC class I down-regulation, translating these findings into cytokine-based strategies, toll-like receptor activation, and rational checkpoint inhibitor combinations. Current NIH- and DoD-funded projects span TCR-therapy optimization, IL-12 gene delivery, NK cell–directed therapies, and tumor microenvironment modulation.

His clinical trial portfolio demonstrates significant leadership, including serving as national chair for ECOG-ACRIN's EA7222 phase III trial of doxorubicin plus pembrolizumab for advanced undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma. Analysis of his recent publications reveals dominant themes in sarcoma immunotherapy, health disparities research, and radiomics-based prognostic modeling across multiple sarcoma subtypes.

Dr. Pollack maintains influential leadership positions including service on the NCCN Soft Tissue Sarcoma and GIST Guidelines Panels, the National Leiomyosarcoma Foundation Executive Committee, and medical advisory boards of the Sarcoma Alliance and Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation. He serves as Senior Editor for Molecular Cancer Therapeutics and frequently contributes to the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

As principal investigator for multiple active clinical trials including the Northwestern Sarcoma Biorepository (STU00218245), COG AOST2032 for osteosarcoma, and global phase III trials for leiomyosarcoma and GIST, Dr. Pollack directs substantial research funding from NIH and DoD sources. His laboratory actively develops CAR-T immunotherapy approaches using canine sarcoma models and investigates the immune microenvironment of synovial and myxoid sarcomas.