A melanoma odyssey - a conversation with Vernon Sondak about a career in melanoma treatment and research.

Abstract

VERNON SONDAK* SPEAKS TO LAURA MCGUINNESS, MANAGING COMMISSIONING EDITOR: Vernon Sondak is Chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology and Director of Surgical Education at the H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, FL, USA. He is also a Professor in the Departments of Oncologic Sciences and Surgery at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. His research interests include the surgical treatment of malignant melanoma in adults and children; the surgical treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma, desmoid tumors and cutaneous soft-tissue sarcomas, including dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans; the adjuvant therapy of melanoma; and the evaluation of new therapies for patients with localized or disseminated melanoma. Sondak has also been a leader in studies of the surgical treatment of melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies, particularly in the application of sentinel lymph node biopsy to the staging of melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma. He is actively involved in ongoing analyses in order to determine which patients with thin melanomas are most likely to benefit from sentinel node biopsy, as well as which patients with sentinel node metastases are most likely to have further metastases identified in other regional lymph nodes. Sondak is the author or coauthor of over 300 articles in peer-reviewed publications, 165 abstracts, eight books and 67 book chapters.