Our Team
Denise L. Johnson, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery, Surgical Oncology
Department of Surgery
Director, Stanford Melanoma Surgery Program
Dr. Johnson entered the Six Year Honors Medical Program at Northwestern University and obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. She completed her Medical Degree at Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, and her General Surgery Training at University of Illinois, Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Ill. During her training she spent two years in the basic immunology lab of Dr. John Kettman at University of Texas, Dallas. After finishing the residency training, Dr. Johnson successfully completed the three-year Surgical Oncology Fellowship at City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte, CA.
She joined the Stanford faculty in 1991 during which time she served in a number of administrative positions in the Department of Surgery at the Palo Alto VA. Dr. Johnson has recently been elected to serve a ten-year term on the American College of Surgeons, National Commission on Cancer Committee. Her research interests include imaging of melanoma recurrences, novel vaccine delivery systems and use of DNA fragment vaccines in melanoma treatment.
Susan M. Swetter, MD
Associate Professor of Dermatology
Director, Pigmented Lesion and Cutaneous Melanoma Clinic
Co-Director, Stanford Multidisciplinary Melanoma Clinic
Dr. Swetter received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed her dermatology training at Stanford and served as chief resident before joining the faculty in 1994.
She has directed the Pigmented Lesion and Cutaneous Melanoma Clinic at Stanford and the VA since 1996 and is Co-Director of the Stanford Multidisciplinary Melanoma Clinic, which was established in February 1999.
Dr. Swetter serves as the national dermatology liaison to the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Melanoma Committee, and co-chairs the interdisciplinary Melanoma Working Prevention Group, comprised of 28 Intergroup melanoma centers around the country. Her research interests include prevention and early detection strategies for cutaneous melanoma, including skin screening, dermoscopy, and targeting high-risk groups for improved melanoma awareness. She is involved in clinical trials related to melanoma therapy, and translational research to pioneer new approaches to understanding and treating melanoma.
Sunil Reddy, MD
Staff physician, Medical OncologyDepartment of Medicine
Co-Director, Stanford Multidisciplinary Melanoma Clinic
Melanoma Oncology
Dr. Reddy completed medical school at the University of California, Irvine and his internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan Medical Center. His fellowship in Oncology was completed at Stanford University Medical Center. Following this he spent several years in the laboratory of Ronald Levy studying vaccine therapy for lymphomas. His research interests include immunotherapy and targeted therapy of metastatic melanoma. He also directs Stanford's high dose Interleukin-2 therapy for metastatic melanoma.
Daniel S. Chen, MD, PhD
Adjunct Clinical Faculty, Medical Oncology
Department of Medicine
Dr. Chen received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prior to completing a MD/PhD dual degree training at the University of Southern California. During his PhD training, Dr. Chen studied mechanisms of Coronavirus infection with Michael Lai, and gene therapy-based treatment of osteosarcoma with W. French Anderson.
Dr. Chen trained in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology residency and fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Chen has treated Stanford Melanoma patients as Adjunct Clinical Instructor at the Stanford Melanoma Clinic since 2003. Dr. Chen is now working on developing new therapies for metastatic melanoma at Genentech as Assistant Medical Director.
He remains active in the Stanford melanoma tumor board, and continues to treat stage IV melanoma patients at Stanford. He is a vital resource for future melanoma research and trials. His research interests include developing novel technology to monitor anti-melanoma immune responses, development of novel immunologic, anti-angiogenic and vaccine-based melanoma therapies.