Dr. Finn is Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Immunology Program Leader. Dr. Finn received her PhD from Stanford University and has been working in the area of tumor immunology for over 20 years. Her laboratory was one of the first to study human T cell responses against tumors, and one of the first to identify a human tumor antigen, MUC1, capable of stimulating cytotoxic T cells.

Her work led to the identification of a unique peptide epitope on that molecule culminating in 1993 in the approval of the synthetic version of this epitope as an investigational new drug by the FDA, which is now in Phase II clinical trials as a vaccine for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Finn has published 140 peer-reviewed articles and has been funded continuously by NCI since 1985.