Academic History

Alexander van Akkooi, MD, PhD, is the Chair of Melanoma Surgical Oncology at the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), and is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Dr van Akkooi completed his medical degree at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2008. During his surgical training from 2009 to 2014, Dr van Akkooi was awarded his PhD cum laude in 2011 for his thesis on sentinel node tumor load assessment in melanoma.

Dr van Akkooi served as a consultant surgical oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam, the Netherlands from 2015 to 2021, where he chaired the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Centre. He is also the immediate past-Chairman of the EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer) Melanoma Group and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS), specializing in general surgery with a focus on cutaneous oncology.

Speaking on clinical research investigating melanoma

Dr van Akkooi has published over 225 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and Nature Medicine, and has presented his research at major conferences including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO). His extensive research on Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC) and melanoma staging has also shaped current clinical management practices.

Moreover, Dr van Akkooi has been actively involved in the EORTC 1208 Minitub study, exploring novel surgical approaches for melanoma patients, and is a key investigator in the Nivo-ILP trial, which examines the integration of nivolumab with isolated limb perfusion in melanoma treatment. His ongoing research continues to influence treatment strategies for melanoma, with a focus on sentinel lymph node biopsies, neoadjuvant, and adjuvant therapies.