Marco Donia
Dr. M.D. PhD. Clinician-Scientist, Professor
Dr. Marco Donia is a clinician-scientist with a dual profile encompassing clinical practice and translational immuno-oncology. He serves as a Senior Consultant at the Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital (Herlev and Gentofte), Denmark, focusing on the medical treatment of melanoma and the development of experimental immunotherapies. Concurrently, he leads the tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) group at the National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy (CCIT-DK), overseeing a team of scientists working at the intersection of clinical oncology, translational immunology, and computational biology. The research of his team emphasizes innovative approaches to studying tumor-T cell interactions (more about the TIL group at https://bit.ly/3AbUkhG). In February 2025, Dr. Donia was appointed Professor of Immuno-Oncology at the University of Copenhagen, reflecting his significant contributions to the field. Since 2018, Dr. Donia has chaired the Skin Cancer Committee of the Danish Medicines Council, the Health Technology Assessment agency of Denmark, evaluating the cost-effectiveness of new therapies.
Within the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), Dr. Donia has been an active member of the ESMO Communication Committee since 2023 (previously serving on the ESMO Press and Media Affairs Committee) and an Editorial Board Member of the ESMO Daily Reporter since 2020. He has been a Faculty Member of the ESMO Investigational Immunotherapy group since 2018. Dr. Donia is a graduate of the ESMO Leaders Generation Programme (2018) and has contributed to several ESMO conferences as a Scientific Committee member and speaker. He serves as Associate Editor of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer and British Journal of Cancer (BJC) Reports.
Dr. Donia has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, including Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and Annals of Oncology. His key contributions and research interests include major advancements in TIL therapy, mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance, and real-world evidence generation, contributing to advancements in cancer treatment with a particular focus on melanoma. He has received major research grants and awards from prestigious organizations such as the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Borregaard Clinical Ascending Investigator Award, 2023), the Lundbeck Foundation (Lundbeck Fellowship, 2019), and the Danish Cancer Society (Junior Researcher Prize, 2017).
Dr. Donia received his medical degree from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2008, and completed postgraduate training in both Italy and Denmark. He is board-certified in Medical Oncology (Italy, 2014) and Clinical Oncology (Denmark, 2017). He obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen based on his extensive work within adoptive cell therapy for cancer. He is committed to continuous learning and inspiring a new generation of clinician-scientists capable of bridging basic and clinical immuno-oncology in a global perspective. Dr. Donia is fluent in English, Danish and Italian.
