Melissa A. Burgess, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology)
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Research Interests

Dr. Burgess is a medical oncologist specializing in bone and soft tissue sarcomas. She is also a clinical and translational scientist with active involvement in clinical trials. Dr. Burgess’ research efforts include clinical trial design, drug development, and translational research of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. She has a special interest in immunotherapeutic approaches including PD-1 pathway inhibition. Dr. Burgess co-led SARC 028, a multicenter phase II trial through the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration (SARC) with pembrolizumab in select soft tissue and bone sarcomas, and led translation correlative research trying to identify biomarkers of response to PD-1 inhibition in soft tissue sarcomas. Her current research interests include further elucidating potential biomarkers of response to PD-1 inhibition and testing the hypothesis in a clinical trial for patients with molecularly selected soft tissue sarcoma subtypes using immune checkpoint blockade in combination with targeted agents. Dr. Burgess will lead a national phase II clinical trial sponsored by SARC with funding provided by Merck Investigator Studies Program (MISP).

Technique Expertise or Resources to share

Clinical trials

Keywords

Sarcoma, Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Bone Sarcoma, Immunotherapy