Research Summary

Dr. Katy K. Tsai is a medical oncologist and clinical researcher who specializes in treating advanced melanoma and other non-melanoma skin cancers, such as squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma.

Dr. Tsai graduated with a degree in comparative literature from Brown University before earning her medical degree from Brown. She completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at UCSF, where she served as chief fellow, before joining UCSF faculty in the Melanoma & Skin Cancer Program.

Dr. Tsai is deeply committed to finding the best possible treatment options for her patients. As Site Committee Chair for her program, she works closely with her medical oncology, surgical oncology, and dermatology/dermatopathology colleagues to develop novel clinical trial options, and is also responsible for the curation of the Melanoma & Skin Cancer Program's clinical trial portfolio. She has a long-standing research interest in melanoma survivorship and in understanding the pathophysiology and best treatment practices for acute and chronic immune-related adverse events (irAEs).

Education

Brown University, BA, 2006, Comparative Literature
Brown University, MD, 2010, Medicine
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Resident, 2013, Internal Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, Fellow, 2016, Medical Oncology

Honors & Awards

  • 2010
    Research Honors in Urogynecology, Brown University, Providence, RI
  • 2013
    Chairman's Award in Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
  • 2014
    ASCO/AACR Workshop: Methods in Clinical Cancer Research
  • 2015
    Travel Award for Meritorious Abstract, American Society of Clinical Oncology 2015 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
  • 2016
    Young Investigator Travel Award, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer 2016 Annual Meeting, National Harbor, MD

Selected Publications

  1. Baik A, Oluwole OO, Johnson DB, Shah N, Salem JE, Tsai KK, Moslehi JJ Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Toxicities Associated with Immunotherapies.  View on PubMed
  2. Miaskowski C, Paul SM, Snowberg K, Abbott M, Borno HT, Chang SM, Chen LM, Cohen B, Cooper BA, Hammer MJ, Kenfield SA, Kober KM, Laffan A, Levine JD, Pozzar R, Rhoads K, Tsai KK, Van Blarigan EL, Van Loon K Loneliness and symptom burden in oncology patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.  View on PubMed
  3. Pauken KE, Shahid O, Lagattuta KA, Mahuron KM, Luber JM, Lowe MM, Huang L, Delaney C, Long JM, Fung ME, Newcomer K, Tsai KK, Chow M, Guinn S, Kuchroo JR, Burke KP, Schenkel JM, Rosenblum MD, Daud AI, Sharpe AH, Singer M Single-cell analyses identify circulating anti-tumor CD8 T cells and markers for their enrichment.  View on PubMed
  4. Baik AH, Tsai KK, Oh DY, Aras MA Mechanisms and clinical manifestations of cardiovascular toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.  View on PubMed
  5. Silverstein J, Post AL, Chien AJ, Olin R, Tsai KK, Ngo Z, Van Loon K Multidisciplinary Management of Cancer During Pregnancy.  View on PubMed
  6. Miaskowski C, Paul SM, Snowberg K, Abbott M, Borno H, Chang S, Chen LM, Cohen B, Cooper BA, Hammer MJ, Kenfield SA, Laffan A, Levine JD, Pozzar R, Tsai KK, Van Blarigan EL, Van Loon K Oncology patients' perceptions of and experiences with COVID-19.  View on PubMed
  7. Levine LS, Mahuron KM, Tsai KK, Wu C, Mattis DM, Pauli ML, Oglesby A, Lee JC, Spitzer MH, Krummel MF, Algazi AP, Rosenblum MD, Alvarado M, Daud AI Tumor Immune Profiling-Based Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Locally Advanced Melanoma.  View on PubMed
  8. Najjar YG, Navrazhina K, Ding F, Bhatia R, Tsai K, Abbate K, Durden B, Eroglu Z, Bhatia S, Park S, Chowdhary A, Chandra S, Kennedy J, Puzanov I, Ernstoff M, Vachhani P, Drabick J, Singh A, Xu T, Yang J, Carvajal R, Manson D, Kirkwood JM, Cohen J, Sullivan R, Johnson D, Funchain P, Shoushtari A Ipilimumab plus nivolumab for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma: a multicenter, retrospective study.  View on PubMed
  9. Algazi AP, Twitty CG, Tsai KK, Le M, Pierce R, Browning E, Hermiz R, Canton DA, Bannavong D, Oglesby A, Francisco M, Fong L, Pittet MJ, Arlauckas SP, Garris C, Levine LP, Bifulco C, Ballesteros-Merino C, Bhatia S, Gargosky S, Andtbacka RHI, Fox BA, Rosenblum MD, Daud AI Phase II Trial of IL-12 Plasmid Transfection and PD-1 Blockade in Immunologically Quiescent Melanoma.  View on PubMed
  10. Seth R, Messersmith H, Kaur V, Kirkwood JM, Kudchadkar R, McQuade JL, Provenzano A, Swami U, Weber J, Alluri KC, Agarwala S, Ascierto PA, Atkins MB, Davis N, Ernstoff MS, Faries MB, Gold JS, Guild S, Gyorki DE, Khushalani NI, Meyers MO, Robert C, Santinami M, Sehdev A, Sondak VK, Spurrier G, Tsai KK, van Akkooi A, Funchain P Systemic Therapy for Melanoma: ASCO Guideline.  View on PubMed
  11. Algazi A, Bhatia S, Agarwala S, Molina M, Lewis K, Faries M, Fong L, Levine LP, Franco M, Oglesby A, Ballesteros-Merino C, Bifulco CB, Fox BA, Bannavong D, Talia R, Browning E, Le MH, Pierce RH, Gargosky S, Tsai KK, Twitty C, Daud AI Intratumoral delivery of tavokinogene telseplasmid yields systemic immune responses in metastatic melanoma patients.  View on PubMed
  12. Greaney SK, Algazi AP, Tsai KK, Takamura KT, Chen L, Twitty CG, Zhang L, Paciorek A, Pierce RH, Le MH, Daud AI, Fong L Intratumoral Plasmid IL12 Electroporation Therapy in Patients with Advanced Melanoma Induces Systemic and Intratumoral T-cell Responses.  View on PubMed
  13. Tsai KK, Khurana N, McCalmont T, Daud A, Bastian B, Yeh I PTCH1 Mutation in a Patient With Metastatic Undifferentiated Carcinoma With Clear Cell Change.  View on PubMed
  14. Fitzgerald K, Tsai KK Systemic therapy for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.  View on PubMed
  15. Pai CS, Huang JT, Lu X, Simons DM, Park C, Chang A, Tamaki W, Liu E, Roybal KT, Seagal J, Chen M, Hagihara K, Wei XX, DuPage M, Kwek SS, Oh DY, Daud A, Tsai KK, Wu C, Zhang L, Fasso M, Sachidanandam R, Jayaprakash A, Lin I, Casbon AJ, Kinsbury GA, Fong L Clonal Deletion of Tumor-Specific T Cells by Interferon-? Confers Therapeutic Resistance to Combination Immune Checkpoint Blockade.  View on PubMed
  16. Tsai KK, Bollin KB, Patel SP Obstacles to improving outcomes in the treatment of uveal melanoma.  View on PubMed
  17. Ramstein JJ, Tsai KK, Smith JF Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Male Reproductive Health.  View on PubMed
  18. Loo K, Tsai KK, Mahuron K, Liu J, Pauli ML, Sandoval PM, Nosrati A, Lee J, Chen L, Hwang J, Levine LS, Krummel MF, Algazi AP, Pampaloni M, Alvarado MD, Rosenblum MD, Daud AI Partially exhausted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes predict response to combination immunotherapy.  View on PubMed
  19. Daud A, Tsai K Management of Treatment-Related Adverse Events with Agents Targeting the MAPK Pathway in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma.  View on PubMed
  20. Tsai KK, Algazi AP Are PD-1 antibodies safe for use in metastatic uveal melanoma?  View on PubMed

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