Suzanne L. Topalian

Suzanne Louise Topalian (born 1954) is an American surgical oncologist. She is the Bloomberg-Kimmel Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy in the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In this role, she studies human anti-tumor immunity.

Early life and education Topalian was born to father Malcolm F. Topalian in Alpine, New Jersey. Her father was the president of the Topalian Trading Company, a rug concern in New York. She played piano growing up and won first prize in a Tri-State competition. Upon graduating from high school, Topalian received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1979. She then completed her residency in general surgery at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia under the guidance of Surgical Residency Director Herbert Cohn. Following this, she held two fellowships at both the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and National Cancer Institute (NCI). Following this study, Topalian also found that the drug Opdivo caused some patients to have lasting responses that continued even after stopping the drug. She was later named one of Nature's 10 in 2014 for her ability to establish immunotherapy as an important treatment modality in cancer. The following year, Topalian returned to her original research on Opdivo and found that over one-third of advanced melanoma patients were still alive five years after starting therapy with the cancer drug. and named the co-recipient of the Taubman Prize Awarded for Ground-Breaking Work in Cancer Immunotherapy. In October 2017, Topalian was elected to the National Academy of Medicine as someone who has "made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health."

In 2018, Topalian was appointed the Bloomberg-Kimmel Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy in the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. She was also elected to serve on Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc.'s Scientific Advisory Board.

Personal life Topalian married Drew Pardoll in 1993.