Leena Gandhi, a thoracic oncologist, started working with cancer immunotherapies in 2008 in one of the first trials of the PD1 inhibitor nivolumab and has been hooked on the field ever since. In the subsequent decade, she coordinated dozens of immuno-oncology trials — first at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, then at New York University’s Perlmutter Cancer Center — including a seminal study defining the use of PDL1 as a biomarker for PD1 inhibition in lung cancer. After a 2-year stint overseeing immuno-oncology at Eli Lilly, Gandhi is now returning to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute as Director of its new Center for Therapeutic Innovation. She spoke with Asher Mullard about the appeal of immunotherapies, how they have impacted academic drug development, and the hunt for better biomarkers that can unravel their complicated biological effects.