Biography

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Dr. Allen received an M.D. from Texas A&M University’s College of Medicine and completed his clinical training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Washington University in St. Louis with advanced training in laryngological surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is an alumnus of the Clinical Research Training Program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where, under Dr. Carter Van Waes, he studied alterations in oncogenic signaling pathways within head and neck cancer cells. During his clinical residency training, he helped characterize newly developed syngeneic models of oral cavity cancer developed in the laboratory of Ravindra Uppaluri.

His current work as a principal investigator in the Translational Tumor Immunology Program involves using various therapeutic approaches to reverse local immunosuppression within the tumor microenvironment to enhance responses to immune-activating anti-cancer treatments. Dr. Allen holds a faculty appointment in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and has an active otolaryngology clinical practice in Bethesda, Maryland. He also is a member of the inpatient otolaryngology consultation team at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. He joined the NIDCD as an investigator in the Otolaryngology Surgeon-Scientist Program in late 2013.