Melissa Zimel, MD
Associate Professor
Orthopaedic Surgery
School of Medicine

Melissa Zimel is an Orthopaedic Surgical Oncologist, treating pediatric and adult patients with both benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors. She also cares for patients with metastatic disease to the skeleton. She serves as the Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Diversity Committee and is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in healthcare as well as supporting health-care equity and improved health-care access to all people in need.

Education & Training

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• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training University of California 2018
• Orthopaedic Oncology Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 07/2015
• Orthopaedic Surgery William Beaumont Hospital 06/2013
• MD Medicine Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine 05/2008
• BA Biology, Philosophy University of Southern California 05/2004

Interests

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• Pediatric Bone Tumors
• Chondrosarcoma
• Limb Salvage
• Chordoma
• Pediatric Soft Tissue Tumors
• Pathologic Fractures
• Improving Function after Limb Salvage
• Diversity
• Equity
• Inclusion in Orthopaedic Surgery
• Soft Tissue Sarcoma
• Ewing Sarcoma
• Osteosarcoma

Websites

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• UCSF Sarcoma Center (sarcoma.ucsf.edu)

Publications (23)

Top publication keywords:
Soft Tissue NeoplasmsCarbonDevice RemovalMethacrylatesProsthesis FailureBone NailsSarcomaFemoral NeoplasmsBone-Implant InterfaceFemurOsteosarcomaBone TransplantationBone NeoplasmsProsthesis DesignProsthesis Implantation

• Osteosarcoma PDX-Derived Cell Line Models for Preclinical Drug Evaluation Demonstrate Metastasis Inhibition by Dinaciclib through a Genome-Targeted Approach.
  Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 2024 Schott CR, Koehne AL, Sayles LC, Young EP, Luck C, Yu K, Lee AG, Breese MR, Leung SG, Xu H, Shah AT, Liu HY, Spillinger A, Behroozfard IH, Marini KD, Dinh PT, Pons Ventura MV, Vanderboon EN, Hazard FK…
• Botryomycosis: a rare mimic of sarcoma as an initial presentation of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
  Skeletal radiology 2023 Boone SL, Horvai AE, Zimel MN, Brown R, Link TM, McGill KC
• Surgical Site Infection Is Not Associated with 1-Year Progression-Free Survival After Endoprosthetic Reconstruction for Lower-Extremity Osteosarcoma: A Secondary Analysis of PARITY Study Data.
  The Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume 2023 Jackson KJ, Sullivan CD, Zimel MN, Wustrack RL, PARITY Investigators
• Development and characterization of new patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of osteosarcoma with distinct metastatic capacities.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Schott CR, Koehne AL, Sayles LC, Young EP, Luck C, Yu K, Lee AG, Breese MR, Leung SG, Xu H, Shah AT, Liu HY, Spillinger A, Behroozfard IH, Marini KD, Dinh PT, Pons Ventura MAV, Vanderboon EN, Hazard …
• NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors, Version 2.2022.
  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2022 von Mehren M, Kane JM, Riedel RF, Sicklick JK, Pollack SM, Agulnik M, Bui MM, Carr-Ascher J, Choy E, Connelly M, Dry S, Ganjoo KN, Gonzalez RJ, Holder A, Homsi J, Keedy V, Kelly CM, Kim E, Liebner D, …

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• Survival and failure modes of the Compress® spindle and expandable distal femur endoprosthesis among pediatric patients: A multi-institutional study.
  Journal of surgical oncology 2022 Tanaka KS, Andaya VR, Thorpe SW, Gundle KR, Hayden JB, Duong YC, Avedian RS, Mohler DG, Morse LJ, Zimel MN, O'Donnell RJ, Fang A, Randall RL, Tran TH, New C, Wustrack RL, other members of Study Group …
• Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Version 2.2022, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.
  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2022 von Mehren M, Kane JM, Agulnik M, Bui MM, Carr-Ascher J, Choy E, Connelly M, Dry S, Ganjoo KN, Gonzalez RJ, Holder A, Homsi J, Keedy V, Kelly CM, Kim E, Liebner D, McCarter M, McGarry SV, Mesko NW, …
• Diagnosis and management of pediatric primary bone tumors in the emergency department.
  Pediatric emergency medicine practice 2021 Nik-Ahd M, Agrawal AK, Zimel M
• Tumor morphology and location associate with immune cell composition in pleomorphic sarcoma.
  Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII 2021 Wustrack RL, Shao E, Sheridan J, Zimel M, Cho SJ, Horvai AE, Luong D, Kwek SS, Fong L, Okimoto RA
• NCCN Guidelines Insights: Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Version 1.2021.
  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2020 von Mehren M, Kane JM, Bui MM, Choy E, Connelly M, Dry S, Ganjoo KN, George S, Gonzalez RJ, Heslin MJ, Homsi J, Keedy V, Kelly CM, Kim E, Liebner D, McCarter M, McGarry SV, Meyer C, Pappo AS, Parkes …
• Outcomes of Elderly Patients with Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Extremities
  Int J of Rad Onc Biology Physics 2020 Chew J, Lloyd SA, Okimoto RA, Sabnis A, Nakakura E, Corvera C, Zimel MN, Horvai AE, Cho SJ, Wustrack RL, Braunstein SE.
• Fibroma-like perivascular epithelioid cell tumor: a rare case in a long bone.
  Skeletal radiology 2020 Ramezanpour S, Horvai AE, Zimel M, Bucknor M, Link TM
• Intraoperative Radiotherapy Without External Beam Radiotherapy in the Management of Primary Soft Tissue Sarcomas of the Extremities
  Int J of Rad Onc Biology Physics 2020 Chen WS, Lometti M, Wustrack RL, Zimel MN, O'Donnell RJ, Horvai AE, Cho SJ, Okimoto RA, Jahan TM, Gottschalk AR, Braunstein SE.
• Risk of Endoprosthetic Infection and Impact of Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Osteosarcoma and Giant Cell Tumor of Bone; a Retrospective Case-Control Study
  Ann Joint 2020 Butte Z, Tanaka K, Andaya V, Zimel M, O'Donnell R, Wustrack R. Ann Joint 2020; 5:27
• Cutibacterium (formerly Propionibacterium) acnes clavicular infection.
  Journal of bone and joint infection 2019 Zaid M, Chavez MR, Carrasco AE, Zimel MN, Zhang AL, Horvai AE, Link TM, O'Donnell RJ
• A Biomechanical and Structural Comparison of Articular Cartilage and Subchondral Bone of the Glenoid and Humeral Head.
  Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine 2018 Loy BN, Zimel M, Gowda AL, Tooley TR, Maerz T, Bicos J, Guettler J
• Considerations for the Long Term Treatment of Pediatric Sarcoma Survivors.
  Indian journal of orthopaedics 2018 Weiss KR, Zimel MN
• HPMA-Copolymer Nanocarrier Targets Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Primary and Metastatic Breast Cancer.
  Molecular cancer therapeutics 2017 Zimel MN, Horowitz CB, Rajasekhar VK, Christ AB, Wei X, Wu J, Wojnarowicz PM, Wang D, Goldring SR, Purdue PE, Healey JH
• Galectin-3 in bone tumor microenvironment: a beacon for individual skeletal metastasis management.
  Cancer metastasis reviews 2016 Nakajima K, Kho DH, Yanagawa T, Zimel M, Heath E, Hogan V, Raz A
• Revision Distal Femoral Arthroplasty With the Compress(®) Prosthesis Has a Low Rate of Mechanical Failure at 10 Years.
  Clinical orthopaedics and related research 2015 Zimel MN, Farfalli GL, Zindman AM, Riedel ER, Morris CD, Boland PJ, Healey JH
• Carbon fiber intramedullary nails reduce artifact in postoperative advanced imaging.
  Skeletal radiology 2015 Zimel MN, Hwang S, Riedel ER, Healey JH
• Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty for the management of failed shoulder arthroplasty with proximal humeral bone loss: is allograft augmentation necessary?
  Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery 2012 Budge MD, Moravek JE, Zimel MN, Nolan EM, Wiater JM
• Megaprosthesis versus Condyle-sparing intercalary allograft: distal femoral sarcoma.
  Clinical orthopaedics and related research 2009 Zimel MN, Cizik AM, Rapp TB, Weisstein JS, Conrad EU