Roberta Zappasodi is an Assistant Professor of Hematology in Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology of the Department of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY) and in the Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis Program of the Weill Cornell Graduate School. 

The overarching goal of her lab is to improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying resistance to cancer immunotherapy. The Zappasodi Lab studies immunosuppressive CD4+ T-cell subsets and the way these cells interact with B cells and shape the adaptive immune response to cancer at the steady state and upon immunotherapy. In addition, the lab is investigating how tumor metabolism alters the microenvironment to retain immunosuppressive and/or dysfunctional T cells. The Zappasodi Lab primarily studies these mechanisms in the setting of solid tumors, where the immune system and the neoplastic disease are two distinct tissue entities and then tests these findings in B-cell lymphomas, where the malignant disease occurs in the immune system itself.

Dr. Zappasodi’s work has contributed to the identification of molecular determinants of immune and therapeutic activity of immunotherapy, improving our understanding of the mechanisms of action of immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Her work has been published in high impact peer reviewed journals and recognized by several awards, including the Presidential Award of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Women in Cancer Research (WICR) Scholar Award.

Before establishing her Lab at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Zappasodi received a PhD in tumor immunology and immunotherapy at the National Cancer Institute of Milan (Milan, Italy) and was a postdoctoral fellow at MSK in the Wolchok/Merghoub Lab, where she was supported by a Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Scholar Award.