Research and Clinical Trials

As part of a National Cancer Institute-designated research and treatment center, the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program conducts research at Dartmouth College and in partnership with other national research organizations into the biology, causes, prevention and treatment of melanoma and other skin cancers.

The program integrates information from our basic science laboratories, from epidemiology and prevention research, and from clinical research and trials, in an effort to understand—and one day eliminate—melanoma.

Current research projects include:

  • Case-control study of melanoma to compare those with melanoma to those without, in order to understand why some people develop the disease while others do not
  • Community skin cancer prevention research, to develop new approaches to education and prevention
  • Melanoma biology, to understand how melanoma starts and grows
  • New approaches to treatment including:
    • Cytokine therapy, which activates the immune system and can help shrink metastatic melanoma in some patients
    • Metronomic therapy, which uses frequent, low-dose chemotherapy to attack the blood system that feeds the melanoma
    • Adoptive T-cell therapy, which transfuses lymphocytes to enhance immunity against melanoma
  • Tumor and blood bank, to identify markers of melanoma for use in the development of new therapies

Clinical trials

We have many active trials that are enrolling patients across the system.

A clinical trial/study is research in which people can participate and is one of the final steps in the process to look for better ways to prevent, diagnose or treat your condition. The purpose of a clinical trial/study is to research the effectiveness of a treatment, medication, experimental drug, or device. Many of the "standard treatments" that patients receive today were developed based on the results of previous clinical trials.

View a list of our melanoma and skin clinical trials. Consider joining a trial today—you could help change the future of medicine. 

Learn more about clinical trials by visiting our Clinical Trials FAQ.