Melissa Mavers

Biography

I am a physician-scientist currently in my third year of fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, with a research focus and clinical interest in stem cell transplantation. I completed my MD degree and PhD in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology through the combined MD/PhD Program at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, during which time I joined the laboratory of Dr. Harris Perlman (now Chief of Rheumatology at Northwestern University/Feinberg School of Medicine). For this project, I investigated the role of the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p21 in suppression of inflammatory cytokine production and treating inflammatory diseases and gained experience in molecular biology and immunology research techniques. This project led to the publication of several first-author and middle-author publications as well as an invited review article. I then completed my Pediatrics Internship and Residency training at the University of California Los Angeles/Mattel Children’s Hospital, and subsequently entered the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology fellowship program at Stanford University/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. I am conducting my post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Negrin (Division Chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Stanford University Hospital and former President of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation). For this project, I am investigating expansion and enhancement of function of regulatory T and invariant natural killer T cells in stem cell transplantation to prevent or reduce acute graft-versus-host disease. These experiences have helped to shape my career goal of using cutting edge technology to investigate methods of immune modification in the prevention or reduction of graft versus host disease.

Research Interest

Pediatric Hematology-Oncology