Ralph M. Steinman, M.D.

Ralph M. Steinman, M.D., was the head of the Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Immunology at Rockefeller University and a senior physician at The Rockefeller University Hospital. He investigated the fundamental mechanisms of cellular immunity, with the goal of developing immune-based therapies. He discovered a previously unknown class of immune cells, called dendritic cells, which control many of our early immune responses.  For that discovery, he received the 2007 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.