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In addition to Dr. Vitetta’s current positions as Professor of Microbiology and Director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center, she is holder of the Sheryle Simmons Patigian Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunobiology and a Distinguished Teaching Professor. As an immunologist who does translational ("bench to bedside") research, she has published 475 papers, edited several books, and is a co-inventor on 13 issued patents. Over the past two decades Dr. Vitetta has developed antibody-based "biological missiles" (immunotoxins) to destroy cancer cells and cells infected with HIV. These novel therapeutics have been evaluated in tissue culture, in animals and, since 1988, in >300 humans. She is the PI on 10 FDA INDs for Phase I and II clinical trials. In 2001, Dr. Vitetta’s group developed a recombinant protein vaccine against ricin which completed testing in human volunteers in 2005. The vaccine was safe and elicited neutralizing antibodies.
Dr. Vitetta is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Science, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Academy of Cancer Immunology. She is among the 100 most cited biomedical scientists and the 10 most cited women of the past several decades. She has been the recipient of the Pierce Immunotoxin Award, an NIH Merit Award, 16 Faculty Teaching Awards, the FASEB Excellence in Science Award, the American Society of Microbiology Abbott Clinical Immunology Award and the American Association of Cancer Research Rosenthal Prize. Dr. Vitetta was the 1993-94 President of the American Association of Immunologists and in 2002 was awarded its Mentoring Prize. In 2005, she became a founding member of UT Southwestern’s newly established Southwestern Academy of Teachers and was elected to the UT-system wide Academy of Health Science Education, 2006. In 2006, Dr. Vitetta was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame by Governor Rick Perry. In 2007 the American Association of Immunologists awarded her its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. | 