Dr. Kelly McMasters , Ben A. Reid, Sr, MD Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, and his research team have been granted a Clinical & Translational Science Pilot Grant Program's Innovative Translational Research Award to Develop a prognostic system incorporating gene signatures in melanoma patients with positive sentinel lymph nodes. This topic has not been explored in the past, and successful completion of this project would have immediate effect on the treatment of melanoma patients with tumor-positive SLN. The overall impact of this work will save the unnecessary costs of care and ensure the best quality of life of melanoma patients by avoiding unnecessary toxic treatment, which will help to meet the National Cancer Institute's challenge of eliminating suffering because of cancer by 2015. This $175,000 award is supported by the Commonwealth of Kentucky funded Clinical and Translational Science Pilot Grant Program at the University of Louisville.