Dr. Chen is a co-inventor of inCVAX (IP-001) and a co-founder of Immunophotonics, Inc. His research focuses on ablation-based immunotherapy for metastatic cancers with special emphasis on understanding the contributing immune mechanisms and how they can be leveraged for therapeutic approaches in cancer patients.

Dr. Wei R. Chen received his Ph.D. in Theoretical High-Energy Particle Physics from the University of Oregon. He transitioned his research focus from physics to cancer in the early 1990s. In 2020, he joined the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at the University of Oklahoma and currently serves as Stephenson Endowed Chair, Professor, and Director of the SBME. He is also the Director of the Oklahoma Center of ImmunoEngineering (OCIE), funded through the NIH COBRE program.

A pioneer in the field of Interventional Immuno-Oncology®, Dr. Chen and his team developed the novel immunostimulant, IP-001, and a localized ablative immunotherapy for metastatic cancers that combines local ablation with local administration of IP-001. He has published more than 210 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 64; more than 12,400 citations), holds 12 U.S. patents and multiple international patents, and has secured over $20 million in research funding.

Dr. Chen is a Fellow of SPIE and AIMBE and a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors. He established the international Immunophotonics for Diagnostics and Therapeutics conference and has served as its chair since 2006. Prior to joining OU, he was Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Dean of the College of Mathematics and Science at the University of Central Oklahoma. An accomplished educator, he received the 2008 U.S. Professor of the Year award and a Fulbright Lecturing/Research Award.