What do I do next: A roadmap for care after an early-stage melanoma diagnosis

Dr. Ferris is a professor of dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh. She directs the pigmented lesions clinic and is the director of clinical research for the department of dermatology and is a member of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Melanoma Program. Her melanoma interests include early detection of skin cancer through screening and the use of technology. 

Genevieve M. Boland, MD, PhD, FAGS is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Surgery, Section Head of Melanoma/Sarcoma Surgery, and Surgical Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Her primary clinical focus is on melanoma and cutaneous oncology. 

She undertook combined MD/PhD training, completing a PhD in Cell and Tissue Engineering at the National Institutes of Health focusing on signaling pathways in adult, human mesenchymal stem cells. She graduated cum laude from Thomas Jefferson University as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and completed her general surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital. Following this, she completed a clinical fellowship in Complex General Surgical Oncology and a combined research fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is focused on the clinical management of skin cancer patients. She is board certified in General Surgery and Complex General Surgical Oncology, and she is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. 

Dr. Boland has received research support from many groups including the American Surgical Association Foundation Fellowship, the Association of Women Surgeons Research Fellowship, the Harvard Catalyst Medical Research Investigator Training Award, the Karin Grunebaum Cancer Foundation Fellowship, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Melanoma Research Foundation Breakthrough Consortium, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense. She is Director of the Surgical Oncology Research Laboratories and Director of the Therapeutic lntralesional Program where she is building a portfolio of direct-to-tumor therapies across multiple tumor types. She is also an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Her laboratory is currently focused on molecular profiling of melanoma, characterization of molecular and immunological changes that occur during immunotherapy, and the identification of circulating biomarkers of cancer.

Dr. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Dermatology with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she leads the Early Melanoma Detection research team. Her research seeks to reduce melanoma diagnostic disparities in areas of Texas with no dermatologists and combines geospatial imaging, educational theory approaches and image annotation to support machine learning diagnosis. She also serves as the Associate Medical Director of the Melanoma and Skin clinic at MD Anderson.