My laboratory team aims to better understand the underlying mechanisms of melanoma by creating diagnostic tools that both help assess a patient’s disease risk and that ensure we are treating patients with the most effective therapies available to them.

Advances in melanoma treatment have offered respite for many patients, and even cures for some, but it remains unknown whose tumors are more likely to respond to oncogene-targeted drugs that put breaks on the tumor cells themselves or immune checkpoint blocking antibodies that unleash the patient’s immune system against the tumor cells. While combination approaches hold promise, understanding what molecular pathways affords or prevents therapeutic benefit still needs to be investigated. The critical mission to lengthen and broaden treatment is what we are committed to!