Ellen S. Vitetta is the director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Early life
Vitetta earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Connecticut College and advanced degrees at New York University Medical and Graduate Schools.
Career
Vitetta is a professor of microbiology and immunology, the director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center, and holds both the Sheryle Simmons Patigian Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunobiology and a distinguished teaching chair at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She has published 500 papers, edited several books, and is a co-inventor on 24 issued patents. She is recognized as one of the top 100 most cited biomedical scientists in the world.
Vitetta is an immunologist who conducts translational ("bench to bedside") research. Along with her colleagues, she was the first to describe IgD on the surface of murine B cells and co-discovered Interleukin-4.
Vitetta is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Microbiology. She was the first biomedical scientist from Texas elected to the National Academy of Sciences.