Understanding and coping with a new melanoma diagnosis, or melanoma recurrence, can be frightening and overwhelming.
AIM’s “Ask a Medical Expert” was created to help individuals understand their melanoma diagnosis, its implications, and how to approach and navigate their situation.
Melissa Wilson, PA-C, MPAS, leads AIM’s “Ask a Medical Expert” program and is AIM’s resident melanoma medical expert. Wilson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role, and boundless enthusiasm for the industry – and her patients.
A natural trailblazer, Wilson is proud of her collaborative work as an NCCPA-certified physician assistant senior since 2005 with the distinguished melanoma specialist Dr. John Kirkwood at the University of Pittsburgh in the Cancer Institute Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine. Their treatment and research initiatives were so successful that they have been used as a template for other cancer programs throughout the country. Wilson works as lead physician assistant for the Melanoma Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
Her expertise is focused on acute care in outpatient oncology with research patients and the general melanoma population. She helps patients manage therapy-driven toxicity-related problems and emergencies. She has expertise in biopsies and suturing techniques; cryotherapy; injections; imaging reviews; clinical trial monitoring; and RECIST tumor measurements.
A natural teacher, Wilson has also worked with a multidisciplinary team on patient education and collaboration. She holds appointments at Chatham University Clinical Preceptor where she is adjunct faculty and is a cancer care modules lecturer on melanoma since 2013.
Inspired to her career by her own father’s battle with cancer (he is doing well!), Wilson says she will never stop wanting to help patients fight melanoma. She also feels confident that a cure is on the horizon given that melanoma treatments have grown exponentially over the last few years.
Wilson is a native of Pennsylvania and has her master’s degree from Chatham University in physician assistant studies (MPAS), and PA-C (certified in Pennsylvania).