Research Summary

Dr. Michelle E. Melisko is a cancer specialist with expertise in breast cancer treatment and research. She is interested in testing new chemotherapy combinations, biological therapies and immunotherapies for breast cancer, with a particular focus on treatment of cancer that has spread to the brain. She also hopes to educate patients and encourage their participation in clinical trials to make more rapid advances in breast cancer treatment.

Melisko earned a medical degree at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at Stanford Hospital and Clinics and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF Medical Center.

Education

Duke University, B.S., Psychology / Neuroscience & Russian, 8/88-9/91
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, MD, 8/93-5/97
Resident in Internal Medicine, Stanford University Hospital, 6/97-6/00

Honors & Awards

  • 1991
    Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Grant
  • 1993
    Graylyn Scholar
  • 1997
    Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society
  • 1997
    M. Robert Cooper Award for Excellence and Interest in Oncology
  • 2003
    ASCO Merit Award Recipient
  • 2004
    Breast Cancer Spore Career Development Award
  • 2006
    UCSF General Clinical Research Center CreFF Award

Selected Publications

  1. Nagpal S, Carlson-Clarke B, Rout SS, Trinh TTH, Roy-O'Reilly M, Tedjakusuma SN, Taiwo R, Harary PM, Granucci M, Chernikova SB, Bertrand S, Therkelsen KE, Han SS, Gu B, Bharani KL, Newman JM, Barisano G, Umeh-Garcia MC, Herrick D, Vogel H, Arora M, Samos CH, Soltys SG, Pollom EL, Rahimy E, Iv M, Melisko ME, Hayden Gephart M. Phase 2 test of QBS72S for breast cancer leptomeningeal disease. Neuro Oncol. 2026 Aug 07. View on PubMed
  2. Krasnow NA, Salans M, Jayaraj M, Kuwahara K, Zhou MH, Boreta L, Braunstein SE, Aghi MK, Chien J, Rugo H, Melisko ME, Morshed RA, Vasudevan HN, Huppert LA. Clinical and molecular features of resected breast cancer brain metastases: a single center retrospective cohort study. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2026 Jul 20; 218(2). View on PubMed
  3. Baclig NV, Chengappa M, Soliman AJ, Jacob S, LeVee A, Fisch S, Face C, Chaudhry S, Idossa D, Poonacha T, Huppert L, Quintal L, Melisko M, Majure M, Tsai K, Kordic A, Chien J, Mortimer J, Rugo HS, Lechner MG, Blaes A, McCann KE. Incidence, Risk Factors, and Survival Implications of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer. Clin Breast Cancer. 2026 Sep; 26(9):91-100. View on PubMed
  4. Grinda T, Heiling HM, Tayob N, Smith KL, Davis R, Cotter C, DeMeo MK, Santa-Maria CA, Van Poznak C, Moy B, Brufsky AM, Melisko ME, O'Sullivan CC, Isaacs C, Rauf Y, Nangia JR, Burns RT, Savoie J, Wolff AC, Winer EP, Mayer EL, Tolaney SM, Rimawi MF, Ruddy KJ, Rocque G, Krop IE, Lin NU, Freedman RA. Patient-reported outcomes from the TBCRC 022 study of neratinib and ado-trastuzumab emtansine for HER2-positive breast cancer brain metastases. Breast. 2026 Oct; 89:104881. View on PubMed
  5. Rugo HS, Pluard TJ, Sharma P, Melisko M, Al-Jazayrly G, Ji Y, Vidula N, Ellerton J, Smakal M, Zimovjanova M, Weng D. OPERA: a phase II study of DHP107 (oral paclitaxel) versus intravenous paclitaxel in patients with HER2-negative recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2026 Mar 30; 217(1). View on PubMed
  6. Murthy RK, O'Brien BJ, Berry DA, Singareeka-Raghavendra A, Monroe MG, Johnson J, White J, Schwartz-Gomez J, Topletz-Erickson A, Lobbous M, Riley K, Melisko M, Morikawa A, Ferguson SD, de Groot JF, Krop IE, Valero V, Rimawi MF, Wolff AC, Tripathy D, Lin NU, Stringer-Reasor EM. Tucatinib-trastuzumab-capecitabine for treatment of leptomeningeal metastasis in women with HER2+ breast cancer: TBCRC049 phase 2 study results. Nat Cancer. 2026 Mar; 7(3):424-434. View on PubMed
  7. Huppert LA, Fisch S, Her L, Hodgdon C, Brain S, Simmons C, Lai AR, Malevanchik L, Balassanian R, Vasudevan HN, Morshed R, Braunstein S, Boreta L, Majure M, Chien AJ, Rugo HS, Magbanua MJM, Melisko ME. Detection of actionable mutations in the cerebrospinal fluid and concordance/discordance with extracranial mutations in patients with metastatic breast cancer and leptomeningeal disease. Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2026; 18:17588359261424678. View on PubMed
  8. Jacob S, Mayer EL, Kacik N, Storniolo AM, Isaacs C, Mayer I, Stearns V, Nanda R, Nangia J, Chien AJ, Moasser M, Melisko M, Wabl C, Muzikansky A, Geradts J, Dillon DA, Park BH, Krop I, Wolff AC, Kochupurakkal B, Shapiro GI, Rugo HS. TBCRC 035: randomized phase II pharmacodynamic study of standard and reduced-dose palbociclib with endocrine therapy in hormone receptor (HR)-positive previously treated metastatic breast cancer. ESMO Open. 2026 Apr; 11(4):106063. View on PubMed
  9. Basu A, Umashankar S, Melisko M, Roy R, Yau C, Pusztai L, Chien AJ, Liu M, Han H, Soliman H, Isaacs C, Shatsky R, Stringer-Reasor E, Robinson P, Yeung K, Kalinsky K, Thomas A, Philip E, Musthafa M, Hirst G, Asare A, DeMichele A, Van't Veer L, Yee D, Hylton N, Olshen A, Perlmutter J, Cohen RN, Quandt Z, Esserman L, Hershman D, Rugo H, Nanda R. Identification of Early Symptoms Associated with Subsequent Immune-related Adverse Events in the I-SPY clinical trial. Res Sq. 2026 Feb 11. View on PubMed
  10. Jacob S, Fisch S, Face C, Blum K, Chengappa M, Chaudhry S, LeVee A, Baclig NV, Soliman A, Huppert LA, Quandt Z, Quintal L, Idossa D, Melisko M, Chien AJ, Kim MO, Mortimer J, McCann K, Blaes A, Rugo HS. Multi-institutional analysis of incidence and risks for late-onset immune toxicity in breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Dec 03; 11(1):144. View on PubMed
  11. Huppert LA, Gliwa AS, Tait M, Quintal L, Starzinski S, Cheung A, Moasser M, Majure M, Melisko M, Munster P, Rugo HS, Campbell M, Fong L, Chien AJ. Phase Ib study of intratumoral talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) in combination with chemotherapy or endocrine therapy in patients with advanced HER2-negative breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Nov 21; 11(1):130. View on PubMed
  12. Krasnow NA, Jayaraj M, Salans M, Kuwahara K, Zhou MH, Fisch S, Boreta L, Braunstein SE, Aghi MK, Batra-Sharma H, Majure M, Chien J, Rugo HS, Morshed RA, Vasudevan HN, Melisko ME, Huppert LA. Evaluating survival trends over time in patients with metastatic breast cancer and brain metastases: a single center retrospective cohort study. Breast Cancer Res. 2025 Oct 28; 27(1):191. View on PubMed
  13. Taiwo R, Harary PM, Trinh TTH, Granucci M, Bertrand S, Carlson-Clarke B, Chernikova SB, Therkelsen K, Arora M, Melisko ME, Iv M, Vogel H, Han S, Xie C, Brain S, Lee V, Bharani KL, Nagpal S, Hayden Gephart M. Adaptive cohort design and LAT1 expression scale: study protocol for a Phase 2a trial of QBS72S in breast cancer brain metastases. BMC Cancer. 2025 Aug 15; 25(1):1316. View on PubMed
  14. Caston NE, Deng L, Williams CP, Levitan EB, Azuero A, Griffin R, Smith KL, Wolff AC, Melisko ME, Shinn EH, Gallagher K, Angove R, Wheeler SB, Rocque GB. Understanding Associations Between Patient-Level Factors and Participation in a Breast Cancer Clinical Trial. Cancer Med. 2025 Aug; 14(16):e71010. View on PubMed
  15. Huppert LA, Mahtani R, Fisch S, Dempsey N, Premji S, Raimonde A, Jacob S, Quintal L, Melisko M, Chien J, Sandoval A, Carcas L, Ahluwalia M, Harpalani N, Hoppenworth J, Blaes A, Blum K, Kim MO, Idossa D, Rao R, Giridhar KV, Rugo HS. Multicenter retrospective cohort study of the sequential use of the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) and sacituzumab govitecan (SG) in patients with HER2-low metastatic breast cancer (MBC). NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Apr 15; 11(1):34. View on PubMed
  16. Caston NE, Deng L, Williams CP, Levitan EB, Azuero A, Griffin R, Smith KL, Wolff AC, Melisko ME, Shinn EH, Gallagher K, Angove R, Wheeler SB, Rocque GB. System-Level Transformations to Increase Patient Participation in Clinical Trials. JCO Oncol Pract. 2025 Oct; 21(10):1502-1511. View on PubMed
  17. Northrop A, Christofferson A, Umashankar S, Melisko M, Castillo P, Brown T, Heditsian D, Brain S, Simmons C, Hieken T, Ruddy KJ, Mainor C, Afghahi A, Tevis S, Blaes A, Kang I, Asare A, Esserman L, Hershman DL, Basu A. Implementation and impact of an electronic patient reported outcomes system in a phase II multi-site adaptive platform clinical trial for early-stage breast cancer. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025 01 01; 32(1):172-180. View on PubMed
  18. Sanft T, Day AT, Goldman M, Ansbaugh S, Armenian S, Baker KS, Ballinger TJ, Demark-Wahnefried W, Fairman NP, Feliciano J, Flores TF, Friedman DL, Gabel N, Hill-Kayser C, Koura D, Lee K, Lee N, McDonough AL, Melisko M, Mooney K, Moore HCF, Moryl N, Neuman H, Overholser L, Patel C, Peterson L, Pirl W, Porpiglia A, Schapira L, Schwartz A, Smith S, Tevaarwerk A, Von Ah D, Wake R, Yang E, Zee P, McMillian N, Freedman-Cass D. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Survivorship, Version 2.2024. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2024 12; 22(10):648-658. View on PubMed
  19. Oppegaard KR, Conley YP, Paul S, Cooper B, Harris CS, Shin J, Morse L, Levine JD, Cartwright F, Roy R, Melisko M, Kober KM, Hammer MJ, Miaskowski C. Self-reported cancer-related cognitive impairment is associated with perturbed neurotransmission pathways. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2025 Feb; 132(2):275-286. View on PubMed
  20. Jacob S, Christofferson A, Fisch S, Norwood P, Castillo P, Yu H, Hirst G, Soliman H, Nanda R, Mukhtar RA, Ewing C, Majure M, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Esserman L, Price E, Chien AJ. Regional lymph node changes on breast MRI in patients with early-stage breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2025 Jan; 209(1):147-159. View on PubMed

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