About the authors

F Stephen Hodi

FS Hodi is Clinical Director of the Melanoma Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. He has been a leader in the clinical development of ipilimumab for the treatment of melanoma.

Darryl A Oble

D Oble is a Hematopathology Fellow at the Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY. He did his residency training in pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and holds a PhD in immunology from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Jan Drappatz

J Drappatz is a Neurologist at Brigham and Women's/Dana Farber Cancer Center, Boston, MA. He holds a doctoral degree from Johannes Gutenberg University Medical School, Mainz, Germany. Dr Drappatz' research focuses on neurologic complications of cancer and therapeutic clinical trials for primary and metastatic brain tumors.

Elsa F Velazquez

EF Velazquez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard School of Medicine, Boston, MA. She is an Associate Dermatopathologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr Velazquez has been involved in the study of melanoma for the last 4 years, first as part of the Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group in New York and now in collaboration with scientists from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in Boston.

Nikhil Ramaiya

N Ramaiya is Clinical Director MRI, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, boston, MA. He completed his fellowship in the Abdominal Imaging and Intervention division at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Since 2004, his area of interest and research is on the impact of new targeted therapies in cancer patients from a radiological perspective.

Naren Ramakrishna

N Ramakrishna is Chief, Division of CNS Radiation Oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. He holds an MD and PhD from Cornell University Medical College. He specializes in clinical treatment of brain and spine tumors and vascular malformations and conducts research on radiosensitizers and image-guided stereotactic treatment.

Arthur L Day

AL Day is Chief of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Brigham and Women's/Children's Hospitals in Boston, MA. He did his neurosurgery training at the University of Florida, and then did a fellowship in neuropathology. He has published over 150 papers/chapters principally emphasizing methods of cerebral protection and microsurgical techniques and anatomy in the treatment of cerebrovascular and skull base lesions.

Andrea Kruse

A Kruse is a Project Manager for melanoma clinical trials at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. She has worked at Dana Farber for five years within the melanoma program and has assisted in the planning and implementation of new protocols as well as coordinating patients on trial. She holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Healthcare Administration.

Suzanne Mac Rae

S MacRae is the Research Nurse for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Melanoma Program and has over eight years of experience in clinical research. She has worked at Dana Farber Cancer Institute for 6 years, the majority of those years working in melanoma research. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Public Health degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Curry College. Her research interests include melanoma, aspects of geriatric oncology and medical ethics.

Axel Hoos

A Hoos received his training at institutions in Germany and the US including the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. His focus is oncology, immunology and clinical research. Dr Hoos currently serves as Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He is also President of the Cancer Vaccine Consortium and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Albert B Sabin Vaccine Institute.

Martin Mihm

M Mihm is Clinical Professor of Dermatology and Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Senior Dermatopathologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr Mihm is a world leading expert in melanoma dermatopathology. He has written over four hundred articles and authored and co-authored twelve books.