2002

Founding Year
‍In October of 2002, Prof. Christoph Huber, then head of the department of hematology at Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, founded the Association together with a group of leading clinical and theoretical immunologists, oncologists and hematologists from Mainz, Berlin, Erlangen, and Tübingen. The goal of the Assocation was “to promote and conduct scientific conferences, basic scientific research, therapy studies and research cooperations in the field of immunotherapy of malignant diseases”.

2003

First CIMT Annual Meeting
‍Since 2003, the CIMT Annual Meeting has connected the global cancer immunotherapy community in the heart of Europe. As the largest science-driven, not-for-profit event in Europe focusing on cancer immunology and immunotherapy, CIMT has fostered the development of immunotherapies by offering a platform addressing the latest advances, successes, and challenges in the field.

2005

CIMT Immunoguiding Program CIP
‍In 2005, the CIMT Immunoguiding Program CIP was founded to guide the development of innvovative cancer immunotherapeutics through inter-laboratory harmonization and quality control education. The working group co-organizes dedicated immunoguiding sessions at the CIMT Annual Meeting and other conferences.

2008

Regulatory Research Group RRG
‍Founded in 2008, the CIMT Regulatory Research Group was founded as an independent group of experts focusing on regulatory aspects of drug development. The group discusses the generic principles and publicly available information on national and international laws, directives and regulations influencing the development of immunotherapy.

2012

10-year Anniversary Meeting
‍With an outstanding lineup of internationally renowned speakers and record numbers of new scientific contributions by international participants from academia and industry, the 10th Anniversary Meeting was celebrated as the premier European meeting dedicated to research and development of cancer immunotherapy.

2017

First CIMT Lifetime Achievement Award and CICON
‍At a celebratory Anniversary Symposium for CIMT members and friends of the Association in May of 2017, Prof. Kees Melief was honored with the First CIMT Lifetime Achievement Award. Since then, Wolf Fridman and Alberto Mantovani have also received this recognition for their work in the field of cancer immunotherapy.

In September, the CICON meeting collaboration with AACR and CRI which began in 2015 came to Mainz. CICON 2017 welcomed over 1400 attendees from 41 countries to Rheingoldhalle Congress Center.

2019

Özlem Türeci elected CIMT President
‍Stepping down after more than 17 years, Christoph Huber handed over CIMT leadership to Dr. Özlem Türeci. Özlem Türeci was unanimously elected the new CIMT President. Dr. Türeci had been a CIMT board member for the previous seven years.

2021

Virtual CIMT Meeting
‍Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest European meeting focused on cancer immunotherapy research and development was held in a virtual format. Over 800 academic and clinical professionals in the fields of tumor immunology were attending online. Over 220 submitted abstracts were presented online as eTalks.

2022

Back on site
‍The Annual Meeting returns to Rheingoldhalle Congress Center with 700 on-site attendees and 200 additional participants watching the livestream from afar.