Melanoma Symposiums

Richard D. Carvajal, MD

Richard D. Carvajal, MD is the Roy J. and Tara Zuckerberg Professor in Medical Oncology and the Deputy Physician-in-Chief and Director of Hematology/Oncology at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute.  He is recognized as a leader within the melanoma field, with particularly expertise in rare melanoma subtypes such as uveal, mucosal and acral melanoma.  His research has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, the Conquer Cancer Foundation, the Melanoma Research Alliance, and the Melanoma Research Foundation. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts, books, and book chapters.

J. William Harbour, MD

J. William Harbour, M.D. is a pioneering retina specialist, ocular oncologist and cancer researcher whose discoveries have transformed the management of patients with uveal melanoma and other eye cancers.  He attended Johns Hopkins for medical school, Wills Eye Hospital for residency, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute for retina fellowship, University of California San Francisco for ocular oncology fellowship, and Washington University in St. Louis for post-doctoral cancer research training.  He was on the faculty of Washington University for 16 years, rising to the rank of Distinguished Professor before being recruited to the University of Miami in 2012 to become the Mark J. Daily Endowed Professor and Vice Chairman for Translational Research at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and Associate Director for Basic Science at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2021, Dr. Harbour was recruited to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to become the Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, where he continues his clinical practice, educational activities, and research program. His research has been continuously funded for over 20 years by the National Institutes of Health, Research to Prevent Blindness, Alcon Research Institute, and other numerous other sources. Among his many transformative contributions, Dr. Harbour invented a multi-gene prognostic test for uveal melanoma that has become the standard of care in North America. He discovered that mutations in BAP1 are the most important cause of metastasis in uveal melanoma, and that SF3B1 mutations are associated with intermediate metastatic risk in this cancer. More recently, he found that LAG3 is the predominant immune checkpoint molecule in uveal melanoma, leading to new clinical trial for metastatic uveal melanoma.