About Us

Melanoma can be an aggressive form of skin cancer. It can invade or involve deeper layers of the skin and has the potential to spread to other tissues in the body. The UCSF Melanoma Center provides consultations and treatment for all stages of melanoma, from early lesions to late-stage disease. Newly diagnosed patients and those who have a recurrence of melanoma receive a comprehensive evaluation, including a review of medical history, physical exam, pathology assessment of a biopsy specimen, psychosocial interview, if indicated, and recommendations for an individualized plan of treatment and follow-up.

Multidisciplinary Team

A diverse multidisciplinary team including surgeons, medical oncologists, dermatologists, dermatopathologists, radiologists, geneticists, and psychotherapists provide state-of-the-art care and personalized treatment plans for each patient. Complex cases are reviewed the the UCSF Melanoma Tumor Board, a special multidisciplinary weekly conference that provides a consultative service for diagnostic evaluation and management of advanced melanoma.

Clinical Care

Of all the skin cancers, three,  melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma make-up approximately ninety-five (95%).  Basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas are often referred to as "nonmelanoma skin cancers."

UCSF also treats uncommon and very rare types of serious skin cancers that many hospitals would almost never see, cases that therefore impose significant diagnostic and treatment challenges. These cases especially benefit from a multidisciplinary approach to evaluation and the opportunity for presentation at a Melanoma Tumor Board Conference.

Conditions we treat include:

• Melanoma
• Merkel cell carcinoma
• Advanced or metastatic squamous cell or basal cell carcinoma
• Angiosarcoma
• Apocrine carcinoma
• Cutaneous leiomyosarcoma
• Dermatofibrosarcoma protruberans
• Microcystic adnexal carcinoma
• Paget's and extramammary Paget's disease
• Sebaceous carcinoma

Melanoma Tumor Board

The Melanoma Tumor Board offers a full array of services for diagnostic work-up and treatment with such established and experimental modalities as surgery, biochemotherapy, vaccine therapy, and cytokine therapy. Referring specialists are also invited to attend and bring their complex patient cases for review.

Investigational Therapies

Beyond conventional therapies, patients have access to investigational therapies for melanoma. UCSF offers melanoma patients a broad menu of clinical trials, providing those eligible with access to some of the most promising novel agents and targeted therapies.Our clinical trials span various stages of melanoma, and include disease prevention, recurrence in high-risk surgical patients, and innovative drug therapies for patients with advanced metastatic melanoma.