Ariel Hollinshead

Ariel Cahill Hollinshead (August 24, 1929 – September 10, 2019) was an American cancer researcher and professor who spent her career at George Washington University. She was a pioneer in discovering tumor antigens and developing them as cancer vaccines. She is sometimes referred to as the "Mother of Immunotherapy."

Life Hollinshead was born Ariel Cahill Hollinshead on August 24, 1929. Her family were Quakers. After earning a bachelor's degree at Ohio in 1951,

In 1958, Hollinshead married Montgomery K. Hyun, whom she met while they were both at Swarthmore college, and they had two sons together; her husband died in 2016. Ariel Hollinshead died at the age of 90 on September 10, 2019.

Research and work Her research initially focused on oncovirology - the role of viruses in causing cancer, looking to develop cancer vaccines. In her initial set of experiments, she attempted to use fragments of oncoviruses to see if they caused an immune response in animals; as part of these experiments she used membrane fragments from tumors caused by the virus as a scientific control. To her surprise, the membrane fragments elicited a stronger response.

Colleagues and funders were skeptical, but she was able to validate her results and eventually invented methods using ultrasound to isolate the immune-inducing substance from the membrane fragments. This led to one of the first identification of tumor antigens (also called "tumor-associated antigens").

She then turned back to virology and joined the effort to develop an HIV vaccine. and later Neogenix (subsequently sold to Precision Biologics, Inc.), the lead product of which is ensituximab, a monoclonal antibody raised against a set of tumor antigens identified by Hollinshead.

She served on Oncology Boards for Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Neogenix Oncology, Inc.

Honors and awards She received the Marion Spencer Fay Award from Drexel University in 1975

In 1977, she received an Honorary Membership Award by the Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) organization to acknowledge her scientific research.

In 1980 she received the "Star of Europe", an honor conferred jointly by the ministers of health of Germany, Italy, and England,

Additionally, in 2008, she received the GWIS award for Meritorious Service for her extensive involvement in the organization.

She was a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Publications