05/30/2026
UVA Department of Surgery resident Emily Ninmer, MD, is concluding two years of residency research in the lab of her mentor, Craig Slingluff, MD. Dr. Slingluff is a world leader in immunotherapy, therapies that boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, and developing cancer vaccines, a type of immunotherapy that activates the immune system to specifically target cancer cells. Dr. Ninmer studies how T cells from normal lymph nodes of melanoma patients may contribute to their immune response against melanoma cells in nearby lymph nodes, and whether T cells activated by a vaccine can infiltrate and fight melanoma tumors.
Dr. Ninmer’s research aspirations were made a reality through the Rebecca “Becca” Clary Harris, MD, Memorial Fellowship, which honors the memory of the UVA alumnus and Slingluff lab member. Dr. Harris was dedicated to melanoma care and immunotherapy research. She passed away suddenly in 2007 before completing her fellowship in the Slingluff lab. The Rebecca Clary Harris Fellowship gift is fostering the next generation of clinical and translational post-doctoral research at UVA.
Dr. Ninmer’s research alongside Dr. Slingluff has led him to design two clinical trials evaluating potential treatment methods. In her own career, she hopes to “continue building on the work Dr. Harris so passionately pursued,” she said, through her own tumor immunology and immunotherapy research.
Learn about Drs. Ninmer and Slingluff’s research and the Rebecca Clary Harris Fellowship: https://giving.uvahealth.com/article/gift-time
