Investigators

Summary

Yana G. Najjar, MD is a translational investigator and cutaneous oncologist at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, where she is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical and Translational Research Center. Dr. Najjar specializes in the treatment of advanced melanoma, focusing on anti-PD1 resistant melanoma and rare melanoma subtypes. Using a bench-to-bedside approach, she has developed multiple investigator-initiated trials that aim to remodel melanoma tumor cell metabolism and hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment to overcome mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy. Her lab is focused on various correlative analyses from investigator-initiated trials. Dr. Najjar's research is funded by the NIH, the Department of Defense and the Melanoma Research Alliance.