Associate Professor, 
Associate Clinical Director of the Hollings Cancer Center
and Grace E. DeWolff Professor of Medical Oncology

Dr. Melanie Thomas joined MUSC in August 2008 as the 20th researcher recruited to South Carolina through the state’s Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) Program, established to drive the state’s economy by using state funds to create research centers at the state's three research universities. Dr. Thomas holds the Grace E. DeWolff Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology at MUSC. She is also Associate Clinical Director of the Hollings Cancer Center.

Dr. Thomas is the first woman named as an endowed chair for the program. CoEE endowed chairs are internationally renowned scientists who direct the research conducted at the centers. Dr. Thomas will lead the Gastrointestinal Cancer Diagnostics CoEE at MUSC. Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers include cancers of the stomach, liver, pancreas, colon and elsewhere in the GI tract. Research at the CoEE will include searching for new targets for GI cancer treatment and identifying new ways to screen for GI cancer. The CoEE will place an emphasis on esophageal cancer. South Carolina has the nation’s 14th-highest death rate from esophageal cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Thomas will develop a clinical trials program in gastrointestinal malignancies at the CoEE. Currently, she is the principal investigator for 17 clinical trials.

“Dr. Thomas is an active and accomplished teacher and mentor, a highly committed and talented physician and a scholar who is interested in translating basic molecular discoveries into clinical therapies,” said MUSC Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Dr. John Raymond.