Melissa Gill, MD

As a resident in Anatomic Pathology at Columbia University Medical Center, I merged my subspecialty interests Cytogenetics/Molecular Pathology and Dermatopathology by pursuing an in parallel Post-Doctoral Residency Fellowship. My fellowship focused on the genetics of nevi and melanoma, for which I was awarded the House Staff Award Clinical Research Grant in 2003. I also participated in clinical evaluation and germline mutation analysis of patients with genodermatoses, such as Brooke-Spiegler syndrome, multiple familial trichoepithelioma, familial cylindromatosis, Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, familial atypical multiple mole melanoma syndrome, and dysplastic nevus syndrome.

During my Dermatopathology Fellowship at Weill Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, my research focus transitioned to non-invasive diagnostic imaging after being recruited into the field of Cutaneous Reflectance Confocal Microscopy by the world’s leading expert, Dr. Salvador Gonzalez. Soon thereafter, Dr. Gonzalez and Dr. Allan Halpern, Chief of the Dermatology Section at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, invited me to co-edit the first textbook on Cutaneous Reflectance Confocal Microscopy. I have also had the honor of serving as the Co-President of the 2nd World Congress on Confocal Microscopy, the Co-Director of the American Academy of Dermatology's Cutaneous Imaging Expert Resource Group, Board Member of the International Confocal Group, member of the DICOM Working Group Subsection on Cutaneous Confocal Microscopy and an Instructor for the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology’s annual course on Confocal Microscopy.

As one of the few Dermatopathology-trained experts in the emerging subspecialty of Cutaneous Diagnostic Imaging, my research goal is to collaboratively pioneer more efficient, higher quality, safer care via non-invasive imaging, sparing patients unnecessary invasive biopsies and, for lesions that require removal, enabling same day diagnosis and treatment, saving time and money for patients and the healthcare system.

Education

• Undergraduate: Brown University
• Medical School: Brown University
• Residency: New York - Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center
• Fellowship: New York - Presbyterian Hospital at the Weill Cornell Medical Center & Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Certifications

• American Board of Pathology:
  • Anatomic Pathology (2005)
  • Dermatopathology (2006)
• New York State Department of Health:
  • Laboratory Director, Histopathology General (2009)

Research Interests

• Dermatopathology
• Non-invasive diagnostics
• Reflectance Confocal Microscopy
• Optical Coherence Tomography

• Ho G, Gill M, Grant-Kels J, Schwartz RJ, Pellacani G, Gonzalez S, Alessi-Fox C, Guitera P.International expert recommendations on image acquisition for in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy of cutaneous tumors. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2024 Mar;90(3):537-544. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2023.09.086. Epub 2023 Oct 26. PubMed PMID: 37898340.
• González S, Gill M, Juarranz Á. Introduction to the Special Issue on "Keratinocyte Carcinomas: Biology and Evolving Non-Invasive Management Paradigms". Cancers (Basel). 2023 Apr 17;15(8). doi: 10.3390/cancers15082325. PubMed PMID: 37190253; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10137102.
• Saknite I, Gill M, Alessi-Fox C, Zwerner JP, Lehman JS, Shinohara MM, Novoa RA, Chen H, Byrne M, Gonzalez S, Ardigo M, Tkaczyk ER. In Vivo reflectance confocal microscopy of cutaneous acute graft-versus-host disease: concordance with histopathology and interobserver reproducibility of a glossary with representative images. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2022 Jul;36(7):1034-1044. doi: 10.1111/jdv.18004. Epub 2022 Mar 22. PubMed PMID: 35175678; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9232909.
• Gill M, Sahu A, Alessi-Fox C, Cordova M, Gonzalez S, Iftimia N, Aleissa S, Navarrete-Dechent C, Dusza S, Rossi A, Marghoob AA, Rajadhyaksha M, Chen CJ. Angulated small nests and cords: Key diagnostic histopathologic features of infiltrative basal cell carcinoma can be identified using integrated reflectance confocal microscopy-optical coherence tomography. J Cutan Pathol. 2021 Jan;48(1):53-65. doi: 10.1111/cup.13871. Epub 2020 Oct 12. PubMed PMID: 32989842; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7755835.
• Kose K, Bozkurt A, Alessi-Fox C, Brooks DH, Dy JG, Rajadhyaksha M, Gill M. Utilizing Machine Learning for Image Quality Assessment for Reflectance Confocal Microscopy. J Invest Dermatol.2020 Jun;140(6):1214-1222. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2019.10.018. Epub 2019 Dec 12. PubMed PMID: 31838127; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7967900.
• Gill M, Alessi-Fox C, Kose K. Artifacts and landmarks: pearls and pitfalls for in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy of the skin using the tissue-coupled device. Dermatol Online J. 2019 Aug 15;25(8). Review. PubMed PMID: 31553856.
• Gill M, González S. Enlightening the Pink: Use of Confocal Microscopy in Pink Lesions. Dermatol Clin. 2016 Oct;34(4):443-458. doi: 10.1016/j.det.2016.05.007. Review. PubMed PMID: 27692450.
• Gill M, Longo C, Farnetani F, Cesinaro AM, González S, Pellacani G. Non-invasive in vivo dermatopathology: identification of reflectance confocal microscopic correlates to specific histological features seen in melanocytic neoplasms. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2014 Aug;28(8):1069-78. doi: 10.1111/jdv.12285. Epub 2013 Oct 23. PubMed PMID: 24147614.
• Pellacani G, Farnetani F, Gonzalez S, Longo C, Cesinaro AM, Casari A, Beretti F, Seidenari S, Gill M. In vivo confocal microscopy for detection and grading of dysplastic nevi: a pilot study. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2012 Mar;66(3):e109-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2011.05.017. Epub 2011 Jul 13. PubMed PMID: 21742408.
• Gill M, Celebi JT. B-RAF and melanocytic neoplasia. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2005 Jul;53(1):108-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2005.04.013. Review. PubMed PMID: 15965430.
• Gill M, Cohen J, Renwick N, Mones JM, Silvers DN, Celebi JT. Genetic similarities between Spitz nevus and Spitzoid melanoma in children. Cancer. 2004 Dec 1;101(11):2636-40. doi: 10.1002/cncr.20680. PubMed PMID: 15503312.

Full list of peer-reviewed publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1Zsv7hxUCdSkS/bibliography/public/