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Congratulations to Adam Grippin, MD, PhD, who has been named a 2026 STAT Wunderkind, a prestigious recognition celebrating the next generation of scientific superstars. Dr. Grippin is being honored for his groundbreaking research on using mRNA vaccines to stimulate the immune system during cancer treatment. In 2025, Dr. Grippin received an ASTRO-LUNGevity Residents/Fellows in Radiation Oncology Seed Grant to support his project “mRNA Vaccines and Therapeutic Radiation for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer,” in which he led a team exploring optimal timing for combining mRNA vaccines, radiation therapy and immunotherapy.
Members of the team recently shared results at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting. Medical student Sage Copling presented “Systemic Immune Activation by mRNA Vaccination Synergizes with Immune Checkpoint Inhibition and Radiotherapy: A Single-Institution Analysis” and clinical research fellow Kylie Morgan presented “COVID-19 Vaccination Timing Prior to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Initiation and Survival Outcomes in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.” The retrospective and preclinical studies suggest that combining radiation with an mRNA vaccine delivered shortly before immunotherapy could be a promising method to overcome resistance in hard-to-treat cancers. Dr. Grippin recently started as an assistant professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center and is launching his lab to continue this research that could lead to a paradigm shift in cancer treatment.
