Mark L. Tykocinski, MD, to Receive 2026 Gold-Headed Cane Award
The 2026 recipient of the ASIP Gold-Headed Cane Award is Dr. Mark L. Tykocinski, Professor in the Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA).
The ASIP Gold-Headed Cane Award, the society’s oldest and most prestigious award (first awarded in 1919), recognizes significant long-term (lifetime) contributions to the field of pathology, including meritorious experimental pathology research, outstanding teaching, general excellence in the discipline, demonstrated leadership in the field, and engagement in the activities of the American Society for Investigative Pathology.
Dr. Tykocinski earned a BA in biology (Magna Cum Laude) from Yale University (New Haven, CT) in 1974 and an MD from New York University (New York, NY) in 1978. He completed an internal medicine internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (New York, NY), residency training in anatomic pathology in the Department of Pathology at NYU Medical Center, and a medical staff fellowship at the Laboratory of Immunogenetics/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD).
In 1983, Dr. Tykocinski accepted an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU; Cleveland, OH), with a secondary appointment as Assistant Professor of Oncology. He was promoted to Associate Professor (with tenure) in 1990, and to Professor in 1995. In 1994, he became the Founding Director of the Gene Therapy Facility at CWRU. From 1998–2008, Dr. Tykocinski served as Simon Flexner Professor and Chair (with tenure) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA).
In 2008, Dr. Tykocinski was recruited to Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) as the Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean of Jefferson Medical College (subsequently renamed Sidney Kimmel Medical College). Over the course of his 15-year dean tenure, Dr. Tykocinski also served in a series of other roles: President of Jefferson University Physicians; first-ever Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of the university; and, during a transitional period, President of the university. Dr. Tykocinski concluded his leadership service at Jefferson in September 2023, as the 9th longest-standing medical school dean (of 155) in the nation. Towards the end of his dean tenure, he was elected to the Administrative Board of the American Association of Medical Colleges’ Council of Deans.
Significantly, Dr. Tykocinski and his senior management colleagues at Jefferson orchestrated the dramatic foundational transformation of an institution with a 200-year legacy: scaling its clinical enterprise through a series of health system mergers, along with its academic enterprise via an out-of-the-box merger of a health sciences university with a design-focused one; founding 64 new institutes and centers that showcased strengths in areas such as the neurosciences, rehabilitation medicine, oncology, and a spectrum of surgical subspecialties; establishing a series of pioneering centers of research excellence (including Computational Medicine Center; Center for Vaccines & Pandemic Preparedness; Annesley Eye-Brain Center; Center for Connected Care; Raphael Center for Neurorestoration; Institute for Smart & Healthy Cities); launching four vibrant global centers featuring wide-ranging initiatives in numerous areas, including global health of women and children, space medicine, international clinical neuroscience and eyecare collaboration, humanism in medicine, and biotech acceleration; and exploring transdisciplinary paths that bridge medicine to fields such as computer science, design and architecture.
In his letter of nomination discussing Dr. Tykocinski’s time at TJU, Dr. Howard H. Weitz (Bernard Segal Professor of Cardiology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University) stated: “When [Dr. Tykocinski] came to Jefferson he did not fit the ‘mold’ of nearly 185 years of deans. He was an ‘outsider’ and a physician-scientist. Both rare attributes of those who preceded him... Assuming his role as Dean he promptly solidified our legacy, and moved us to a culture honoring teamwork and team science. [Dr. Tykocinski] transformed our goals to those seeking innovation in patient care, education, and research.”
Dr. Tykocinski’s research has crossed many boundaries, including immunology, oncology, and reproductive medicine. Early in his research career, Dr. Tykocinski developed a novel class of eukaryotic episomal expression vectors that have been distributed worldwide. These high-expression vectors positioned him to become an early adopter and innovator in the use of antisense RNA technology, achieving the first antisense RNA inhibition in T-cells (preceding RNAi and CRISPR technologies by decades!) and developing the first antisense libraries.
Dr. Tykocinski’s subsequent contributions have related to the design of novel classes of fusion proteins for cellular engineering and immune network rewiring, reflecting his recognition from the outset that fusion proteins might be used to modulate biologic systems in unique and therapeutically useful ways. Cloning of one of the first human glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins enabled him to use its GPI modification signal sequence to generate, via sequence chimerization, tunable “protein paints”. This, along with other unique fusion protein-based experimental tools, paved the way for a spectrum of proof-of-concept cellular engineering feats—creation of artificial veto cells, immunogenic tumor cells, and auto-costimulatory T cells (via enforced, cell surface neo-expression of chimeric coinhibitors or costimulators, respectively). Notably, Dr. Tykocinski’s pioneering applications of costimulatory fusions to cell engineering provided the conceptual underpinning and pointed the way to CAR-T and a wealth of other fusion protein-based immune cell activation technologies.
A series of additional signal-converting/network-rewiring fusion proteins ensued, one of which has already shown considerable promise as a cancer immunotherapeutic, via the biotech startup Dr. Tykocinski founded, in multi-center Phase 2 clinical trials for advanced colorectal and non-small cell lung cancers. In yet another line of investigation, Dr. Tykocinski’s laboratory probed the unique immunoregulatory properties and immunotherapeutic potential of a major protein of pregnancy.
Overall, Dr. Tykocinski’s discoveries in this space have resulted in numerous publications and patents, leading to his induction in 2014 as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. His work has impacted immunomodulatory therapy today, and shepherded new approaches to cancer immunotherapy and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Dr. Tykocinski is a trailblazer in the field of fusion protein design and cell surface engineering, and his concepts and approaches are now manifesting tremendous potential not only through his therapeutic fusion proteins, but also via other innovative fusion protein-engineered T cell therapies and immunomimetics.
In addition to his remarkable research background, Dr. Tykocinski’s accomplishments stand out in the realm of higher education. In his letter of nomination dealing with education in the Pathology realm, Dr. Zissimos Mourelatos (Professor & Director, Neuropathology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania) says, “[Dr. Tykocinski] is a global citizen in the truest sense of the world and a fierce advocate for Experimental and Investigative Pathology.” He continues: “Dr. Tykocinski revamped graduate and postgraduate training programs and strengthened the physician-scientist pathway leading to an explosion of NIH-K08 awards to residents. Dr. Tykocinski’s impact in education was so profound that after his departure to become the Dean of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at TJU, [the] Department instituted an award bearing his name, given annually to a graduate student, resident, or postdoctoral fellow who published the most impactful paper emanating from the Department in that year.”
Dr. Tykocinski is a longtime, engaged member of the ASIP. He served on numerous committees, among them the Membership Committee, Finance Committee, and Meritorious Awards Committee. He served on Council from 2003 to 2009, including as Vice President and President. He currently participates as a member of the President’s Circle. Dr. Tykocinski has also been deeply engaged with the Association for Academic Pathology (formerly the Association of Pathology Chairs), having previously served as a Vice President and President of that organization.
In his letter of nomination, Dr. Jeffrey A. Golden (Vice Dean, Research and Graduate Education and Professor of Pathology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) wrote: “Over [Dr. Tykocinski’s] many years of research, education, and most significantly, administrative accomplishments, he has always, and continues, to ensure pathology is recognized and valued. His personal contributions to research and leadership in pathology are clear measures of his contributions and impact that are highly deserving of this prestigious award.”
Dr. Tykocinski will receive the 2026 ASIP Gold-Headed Cane Award during Pathobiology 2026.