Dr Katherine Cummins graduated with honours from medical school at The University of Melbourne, and completed combined haematology training (clinical haematology and haematopathology) in Melbourne, Australia. She then completed a PhD in CAR T-cells at The University of Pennsylvania (USA), focusing on the development and clinical translation of CAR T-cells for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. She was awarded several scholarships during this time, and contributed to publications in prestigious journals including Cell, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.

After returning to Australia in 2020, Dr Cummins joined Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and The Royal Melbourne Hospital as a clinician scientist, and was one of the founding members of the Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy Translation Laboratory. She treats patients with leukaemia and myelodysplasia, as well as patients undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplant or receiving CAR T-cells.