UAB Department of Surgery Assistant Professor and Chief of the Section of Melanoma and Sarcoma Surgery, Ashley Holder, M.D., has been selected as a 2021 Department of Defense Melanoma Academy Scholar.

According to the CDMRP’s Melanoma Research Program (MRP), the academy is a unique and interactive virtual academy focused on creating relationships between established leaders in melanoma research and/or patient care (director and deputy director) and early-career investigators (scholars).

Holder was selected as one of two inaugural Melanoma Academy Scholars for the country. This career development award will provide $500,000 in research funding over the next four years.

Holder’s project “Macrophage Regulation of the Tumor Microenvironment in Metastatic Melanoma” is focused on identifying treatments for patients who do not respond to immunotherapy and do not have a targetable mutation. Her career guide in this award will be Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School Genevieve Boland, M.D., Ph.D.

Ultimately, Holder’s research from this funding aims to support development of a therapeutic that would be injected into the tumor before surgical resection to prevent or eliminate metastases and potentially lead to increased survival of melanoma patients. Read more about Holder’s funded research with the Melanoma Research Program here.