Melissa Geller, MD, MS

Melissa A. Geller, MD, MS, FACOG, is a tenured Professor and gynecologic oncologist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health at the University of Minnesota and holds the Shirley A. Sparboe Endowed Chair in Women’s Cancer Research. A former Division Director, she currently serves as Vice Chair of the Department and as Associate Director of Clinical Research at the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center. She has served as a University of Minnesota representative on the Fairview Board of Directors and sits on the Patient Experience, Health Equity, and Research and Education Committees. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has maintained continuous federal funding to support her translational and clinical research programs.

Dr. Geller leads the Translational Working Group in Gynecologic Cancers at the Masonic Cancer Center and serves on the Fairview Health Services Board of Directors. She has held leadership roles on multiple national committees focused on gynecologic malignancies, including the NRG Oncology Developmental Therapeutics/Phase I/Experimental Medicine Committee and the NRG Oncology Ovarian Committee, and is a frequent invited speaker at national and international meetings. An established clinical trialist and translational researcher, Dr. Geller has led several pivotal studies within NRG Oncology and directs multiple clinical investigations evaluating intraperitoneal (IP) delivery of natural killer (NK) cells and other immunotherapies for women with recurrent ovarian cancer. Her translational research laboratory focuses on modulating the tumor microenvironment to enhance NK
cell–mediated cytotoxicity and advancing novel cellular therapy platforms toward first-in-human clincal trials. Her work is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense. A dedicated mentor, she has trained numerous fellows, graduate students, and junior faculty who have gone on to successful academic and clinical research careers.

Dr. Geller was selected as a 2024–2025 Fulbright Program Scholar in Ireland, where her research focused on advancing and scaling an intraperitoneal catheter device to a functional prototype for use in human clinical trials, further bridging innovation from bench to bedside.