Katy Tsai, MD
Associate Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

Dr. Tsai graduated with a degree in comparative literature from Brown University before earning her medical degree from Brown. She completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at UCSF, where she served as chief fellow, before joining UCSF faculty in the Melanoma & Skin Cancer Program.

Dr. Tsai is deeply committed to finding the best possible treatment options for her patients. As Site Committee Chair for her program, she works closely with her medical oncology, surgical oncology, and dermatology/dermatopathology colleagues to develop novel clinical trial options, and is also responsible for the curation of the Melanoma & Skin Cancer Program's clinical trial portfolio. She has a long-standing research interest in melanoma survivorship and in understanding the pathophysiology and best treatment practices for acute and chronic immune-related adverse events (irAEs).

• Molecular Features of Resected Melanoma Brain Metastases, Clinical Outcomes, and Responses to Immunotherapy.
  JAMA network open 2023 Vasudevan HN, Delley C, Chen WC, Mirchia K, Pan S, Shukla P, Aabedi AA, Nguyen MP, Morshed RA, Young JS, Boreta L, Fogh SE, Nakamura JL, Theodosopoulos PV, Phillips J, Hervey-Jumper SL, Daras M, Pike …
• Mutational Status and Clinical Outcomes Following Systemic Therapy with or without Focal Radiation for Resected Melanoma Brain Metastases.
  World neurosurgery 2022 Vasudevan HN, Susko MS, Ma L, Nakamura JL, Raleigh DR, Boreta L, Fogh S, Theodosopoulos PV, McDermott MW, Tsai KK, Sneed PK, Braunstein SE
• Neurological adverse effects associated with anti-PD1 antibodies alone or in combination with ipilimumab: a multicenter case series.
  Melanoma research 2022 Smith JL, Menzies AM, Cohen JV, Mut-Lloret M, Ozgun A, Spain L, Park J, Quach HT, Pallan L, McQuade J, Feng S, Sandhu S, Atkinson V, Tsai K, Long GV, Larkin J, Eroglu Z, Johnson DB, Sullivan R, Herkes…
• Ipilimumab alone or in combination with nivolumab in patients with advanced melanoma who have progressed or relapsed on PD-1 blockade: clinical outcomes and translational biomarker analyses.
  Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2022 Friedman CF, Spencer C, Cabanski CR, Panageas KS, Wells DK, Ribas A, Tawbi H, Tsai K, Postow M, Shoushtari A, Chapman P, Karakunnel J, Bucktrout S, Gherardini P, Hollmann TJ, Chen RO, Callahan M, …
• Re-induction ipilimumab following acquired resistance to combination ipilimumab and anti-PD-1 therapy.
  European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990) 2021 Hepner A, Atkinson VG, Larkin J, Burrell RA, Carlino MS, Johnson DB, Zimmer L, Tsai KK, Klein O, Lo SN, Haydon A, Bhave P, Lyle M, Pallan L, Pires da Silva I, Gerard C, Michielin O, Long GV, Menzies …
• Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Toxicities Associated With Immunotherapies.
  Circulation research 2021 Baik AH, Oluwole OO, Johnson DB, Shah N, Salem JE, Tsai KK, Moslehi JJ
• Loneliness and symptom burden in oncology patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Cancer 2021 Miaskowski C, Paul SM, Snowberg K, Abbott M, Borno HT, Chang SM, Chen LM, Cohen B, Cooper BA, Hammer MJ, Kenfield SA, Kober KM, Laffan A, Levine JD, Pozzar R, Rhoads K, Tsai KK, Van Blarigan EL, Van …
• Single-cell analyses identify circulating anti-tumor CD8 T cells and markers for their enrichment.
  The Journal of experimental medicine 2021 Pauken KE, Shahid O, Lagattuta KA, Mahuron KM, Luber JM, Lowe MM, Huang L, Delaney C, Long JM, Fung ME, Newcomer K, Tsai KK, Chow M, Guinn S, Kuchroo JR, Burke KP, Schenkel JM, Rosenblum MD, Daud AI, …
• Mechanisms and clinical manifestations of cardiovascular toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
  Clinical science (London, England : 1979) 2021 Baik AH, Tsai KK, Oh DY, Aras MA
• Multidisciplinary Management of Cancer During Pregnancy.
  JCO oncology practice 2020 Silverstein J, Post AL, Chien AJ, Olin R, Tsai KK, Ngo Z, Van Loon K
• Oncology patients' perceptions of and experiences with COVID-19.
  Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer 2020 Miaskowski C, Paul SM, Snowberg K, Abbott M, Borno H, Chang S, Chen LM, Cohen B, Cooper BA, Hammer MJ, Kenfield SA, Laffan A, Levine JD, Pozzar R, Tsai KK, Van Blarigan EL, Van Loon K
• Tumor Immune Profiling-Based Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Locally Advanced Melanoma.
  Annals of surgical oncology 2020 Levine LS, Mahuron KM, Tsai KK, Wu C, Mattis DM, Pauli ML, Oglesby A, Lee JC, Spitzer MH, Krummel MF, Algazi AP, Rosenblum MD, Alvarado M, Daud AI
• Ipilimumab plus nivolumab for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma: a multicenter, retrospective study.
  Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2020 Najjar YG, Navrazhina K, Ding F, Bhatia R, Tsai K, Abbate K, Durden B, Eroglu Z, Bhatia S, Park S, Chowdhary A, Chandra S, Kennedy J, Puzanov I, Ernstoff M, Vachhani P, Drabick J, Singh A, Xu T, Yang …
• Phase II Trial of IL-12 Plasmid Transfection and PD-1 Blockade in Immunologically Quiescent Melanoma.
  Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020 Algazi AP, Twitty CG, Tsai KK, Le M, Pierce R, Browning E, Hermiz R, Canton DA, Bannavong D, Oglesby A, Francisco M, Fong L, Pittet MJ, Arlauckas SP, Garris C, Levine LP, Bifulco C, Ballesteros-Merino…
• Systemic Therapy for Melanoma: ASCO Guideline.
  Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2020 Seth R, Messersmith H, Kaur V, Kirkwood JM, Kudchadkar R, McQuade JL, Provenzano A, Swami U, Weber J, Alluri KC, Agarwala S, Ascierto PA, Atkins MB, Davis N, Ernstoff MS, Faries MB, Gold JS, Guild S, …
• Intratumoral delivery of tavokinogene telseplasmid yields systemic immune responses in metastatic melanoma patients.
  Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology 2020 Algazi A, Bhatia S, Agarwala S, Molina M, Lewis K, Faries M, Fong L, Levine LP, Franco M, Oglesby A, Ballesteros-Merino C, Bifulco CB, Fox BA, Bannavong D, Talia R, Browning E, Le MH, Pierce RH, …
• Intratumoral Plasmid IL12 Electroporation Therapy in Patients with Advanced Melanoma Induces Systemic and Intratumoral T-cell Responses.
  Cancer immunology research 2019 Greaney SK, Algazi AP, Tsai KK, Takamura KT, Chen L, Twitty CG, Zhang L, Paciorek A, Pierce RH, Le MH, Daud AI, Fong L
• PTCH1 Mutation in a Patient With Metastatic Undifferentiated Carcinoma With Clear Cell Change.
  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2019 Tsai KK, Khurana N, McCalmont T, Daud A, Bastian B, Yeh I
• Systemic therapy for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
  Seminars in cutaneous medicine and surgery 2019 Fitzgerald K, Tsai KK
• Clonal Deletion of Tumor-Specific T Cells by Interferon-γ Confers Therapeutic Resistance to Combination Immune Checkpoint Blockade.
  Immunity 2019 Pai CS, Huang JT, Lu X, Simons DM, Park C, Chang A, Tamaki W, Liu E, Roybal KT, Seagal J, Chen M, Hagihara K, Wei XX, DuPage M, Kwek SS, Oh DY, Daud A, Tsai KK, Wu C, Zhang L, Fasso M, Sachidanandam R…
• Obstacles to improving outcomes in the treatment of uveal melanoma.
  Cancer 2018 Tsai KK, Bollin KB, Patel SP
• Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Male Reproductive Health.
  Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics 2017 Ramstein JJ, Tsai KK, Smith JF
• Partially exhausted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes predict response to combination immunotherapy.
  JCI insight 2017 Loo K, Tsai KK, Mahuron K, Liu J, Pauli ML, Sandoval PM, Nosrati A, Lee J, Chen L, Hwang J, Levine LS, Krummel MF, Algazi AP, Pampaloni M, Alvarado MD, Rosenblum MD, Daud AI
• Management of Treatment-Related Adverse Events with Agents Targeting the MAPK Pathway in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma.
  The oncologist 2017 Daud A, Tsai K
• Are PD-1 antibodies safe for use in metastatic uveal melanoma?
  Melanoma management 2017 Tsai KK, Algazi AP
• Melanoma Management
  Are PD-1 antibodies safe for use in metastatic uveal melanoma? 2017 Tsai KK, Algazi AP
• Liver Metastasis and Treatment Outcome with Anti-PD-1 Monoclonal Antibody in Patients with Melanoma and NSCLC.
  Cancer immunology research 2017 Tumeh PC, Hellmann MD, Hamid O, Tsai KK, Loo KL, Gubens MA, Rosenblum M, Harview CL, Taube JM, Handley N, Khurana N, Nosrati A, Krummel MF, Tucker A, Sosa EV, Sanchez PJ, Banayan N, Osorio JC, Nguyen-…
• Evaluation of clinicopathological factors in PD-1 response: derivation and validation of a prediction scale for response to PD-1 monotherapy.
  British journal of cancer 2017 Nosrati A, Tsai KK, Goldinger SM, Tumeh P, Grimes B, Loo K, Algazi AP, Nguyen-Kim TDL, Levesque M, Dummer R, Hamid O, Daud A
• Anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with advanced melanoma and preexisting autoimmune disorders or major toxicity with ipilimumab.
  Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology 2017 Menzies AM, Johnson DB, Ramanujam S, Atkinson VG, Wong ANM, Park JJ, McQuade JL, Shoushtari AN, Tsai KK, Eroglu Z, Klein O, Hassel JC, Sosman JA, Guminski A, Sullivan RJ, Ribas A, Carlino MS, Davies …
• Increased FDG avidity in lymphoid tissue associated with response to combined immune checkpoint blockade.
  Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2016 Tsai KK, Pampaloni MH, Hope C, Algazi AP, Ljung BM, Pincus L, Daud AI
• Clinical outcomes in metastatic uveal melanoma treated with PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies.
  Cancer 2016 Algazi AP, Tsai KK, Shoushtari AN, Munhoz RR, Eroglu Z, Piulats JM, Ott PA, Johnson DB, Hwang J, Daud AI, Sosman JA, Carvajal RD, Chmielowski B, Postow MA, Weber JS, Sullivan RJ
• The efficacy of anti-PD-1 agents in acral and mucosal melanoma.
  Cancer 2016 Shoushtari AN, Munhoz RR, Kuk D, Ott PA, Johnson DB, Tsai KK, Rapisuwon S, Eroglu Z, Sullivan RJ, Luke JJ, Gangadhar TC, Salama AK, Clark V, Burias C, Puzanov I, Atkins MB, Algazi AP, Ribas A, Wolchok…
• Tumor immune profiling predicts response to anti-PD-1 therapy in human melanoma.
  The Journal of clinical investigation 2016 Daud AI, Loo K, Pauli ML, Sanchez-Rodriguez R, Sandoval PM, Taravati K, Tsai K, Nosrati A, Nardo L, Alvarado MD, Algazi AP, Pampaloni MH, Lobach IV, Hwang J, Pierce RH, Gratz IK, Krummel MF, Rosenblum…
• Nivolumab plus ipilimumab in the treatment of advanced melanoma.
  Journal of hematology & oncology 2015 Tsai KK, Daud AI
• The Role of Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Agents in Melanoma: Progress to Date.
  Drugs 2015 Tsai KK, Daud AI
• Implementation Science Workshop: primary care-based multidisciplinary readmission prevention program.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2014 Cavanaugh JJ, Jones CD, Embree G, Tsai K, Miller T, Shilliday BB, McGuirt B, Roche R, Pignone M, DeWalt DA, Ratner S
• PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies for melanoma.
  Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics 2014 Tsai KK, Zarzoso I, Daud AI
• Association between obesity, sexual activity and sexual function in women with pelvic floor disorders.
  Female pelvic medicine & reconstructive surgery 2010 Tsai KK, Marques F, Myers DL, Sung VW
• Candidaemia associated with decreased in vitro fluconazole susceptibility: is Candida speciation predictive of the susceptibility pattern?
  The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy 2010 Oxman DA, Chow JK, Frendl G, Hadley S, Hershkovitz S, Ireland P, McDermott LA, Tsai K, Marty FM, Kontoyiannis DP, Golan Y