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David W. Ollila, MD, FACS (he/him/his)

Professor of Surgery
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

I am the James and Jesse Millis Distinguished Professor in the UNC-CH Department of Surgery and serve as the Vice Chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Surgery. A Society of Surgical Oncology fellowship-trained surgical oncologist in the Division of Surgical Oncology and Endocrine Surgery, I completed my surgical oncology fellowship at the John Wayne Cancer Institute where I developed areas of special interest: breast cancer and melanoma. During my fellowship, I developed the foundation to become a clinical trialist and translational researcher. I am currently the Surgical Director for the Multidisciplinary Melanoma Program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Medical Director of the UNC Ambulatory Surgical Center. I was one of the first to examine the volume of metastatic disease in the sentinel lymph node as a method to determine volume in metastatic melanoma patients. I have a 27-year history as a melanoma clinical trialist including immunotherapy trials (TVEC) and targeted therapy trials (BRAF mutant) and as a breast cancer clinical trialist including a UNC sentinel node validation trial, phase II partial breast radiation trial and national neoadjuvant chemotherapy trials.
As a practicing clinical surgical oncologist with a high volume of melanoma and complex skin cancer patients, I am keenly aware of the recent advances that have been made in the management of metastatic melanoma patients, but also realizes the huge potential for additional advances. As a long-time collaborator and investigator in the GEM (Genes, Environment and Melanoma) study, I am also well versed in the advantages and limitations of long-term cohort studies. I am an active investigator for the InterMEL study. I have been working with the group on methylation for melanoma diagnosis since these studies were initiated.

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