2015 Federal Employee of the Year: Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D. Tags: 2015 Sammies Back to All Videos In 1985, immunotherapy joined the pantheon of mainstream therapies—surgery, radiation and chemotherapy—that doctors can use to successfully treat patients with cancer. This unique approach was the brainchild of Dr. Steven Rosenberg, a surgeon and researcher who has spent 40 years as chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developing treatments that seek to harness the power of the immune system to fight cancer.