Theresa Medina, MD

Publications

• Lorigan P, Medina TM, Nyakas M, Rutten A, Feun LG, Cowey CL, Payne M, Hussain I, Kuzel T, O'Day S, Sheri A, Friedlander PA, Kumar S, Bergersen VS, Foss Ø, Ellingsen EB, Bjørheim J, Bechter OE. The telomerase vaccine UV1 combined with ipilimumab and nivolumab versus ipilimumab and nivolumab in advanced melanoma (INITIUM): A randomized open-label phase 2 study. Eur J Cancer. 2026 Jan 17;233:116162. PubMed PMID: 41365069
• Morton JJ, Ramos SA, Alzofon N, Keysar SB, Armitage LH, Baker AS, Barra JM, Chimed TS, Le PN, Nieto C, Weaver AN, Thomas CM, Miller B, Robinson W, Medina TM, Gao D, Russ HA, Jimeno A. Autologous Thymic Organoids Support Functional T-cell Education and Enhance Antitumor Immunity in Humanized Mice with Melanoma Xenografts. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Nov 1;5(11):2053-2065. PubMed PMID: 41129601
• MacBeth ML, Bagby SM, Borgers JSW, Turner JA, Anderson KC, Whitty PA, Hartman S, Yacob B, Rebecca VW, Davila E, Pitts TM, Medina TM, Patel SP, McCarter MD, Robinson WA, Tobin RP, Couts KL. Decitabine reverses innate immune gene suppression in rare melanomas. bioRxiv. 2025 Aug 28. PubMed PMID: 40909489
• Milhem MM, Zakharia Y, Davar D, Buchbinder EI, Medina T, Daud A, Ribas A, Chmielowski B, Niu J, Gibney GT, Margolin K, Olszanski AJ, Mehmi I, Sato T, Shaheen M, Zhao L, Kelley H, Liu H, Kumar S, Bobilev D, Krieg AM, Wooldridge JE, Kirkwood JM. Intratumoral vidutolimod as monotherapy or in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with programmed cell death 1 blockade-resistant melanoma: Final analysis from a phase 1b study. Cancer. 2025 Aug 1;131(15):e70022. PubMed PMID: 40753466
• Milhem MM, Wise-Draper TM, Chandra S, Hanna GJ, Laux DE, Medina TM, Ansstas G, Daud A, Kelly CM, O'Day SJ, Perez CA, Wong MK, Friedlander PA, Kristedja TS, Burgess MA, Cowey CL, Hanks BA, Weight RM, Daniel WL, Feltner DE, Mix S, Sindelar L, Bexon AS, Bexon MF, Michel RE, Bhatia S. Phase 1b/2 study evaluating safety, efficacy and immune effects of TLR9 agonist cavrotolimod with anti-PD-1 antibodies among patients with advanced solid tumors. J Immunother Cancer. 2025 Jul 25;13(7). PubMed PMID: 40713179
• Ribas A, Milhem MM, Hoimes CJ, Amin A, Lao CD, Conry RM, Hunt JP, Daniels GA, Almubarak M, Shaheen M, Medina T, Barve M, Bishnoi S, Abdi E, Chisamore MJ, Guiducci C, Gomez-Romo J, Candia A, Gamelin E, Coffman RL, Janssen RS, Long GV. Phase 2, Open-Label, Multicenter Study of Nelitolimod in Combination with Pembrolizumab in Anti-PD-1 Treatment-Naïve Advanced Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Oct 1;31(19):4070-4078. PubMed PMID: 40711475
• Kluger H, Grigoleit GU, Thomas S, Domingo-Musibay E, Chesney JA, Sanmamed MF, Medina T, Ziemer M, Whitman E, Finckenstein FG, Gastman B, Chou J, Wu X, Sulur G, Fiaz R, Qi R, Sarnaik AA. Lifileucel tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapy in patients with unresectable or metastatic mucosal melanoma after disease progression on immune checkpoint inhibitors. Cancer Commun (Lond). 2025 Oct;45(10):1229-1234. PubMed PMID: 40693376
• Borgers JSW, Medina TM, Robinson WA, Couts KL, Katsnelson EN, Muckle CM, Davilla E, Patel SP, Gao D, Tobin RP, McCarter MD. Pembrolizumab and all-trans retinoic acid combination treatment of advanced melanoma: long-term survival update. Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2025;17:17588359251349321. PubMed PMID: 40574966
• Medina T, Chesney JA, Kluger HM, Hamid O, Whitman ED, Cusnir M, Thomas SS, Wermke M, Domingo-Musibay E, Phan GQ, Kirkwood JM, Larkin J, Weber J, Graf Finckenstein F, Chou J, Gastman B, Wu X, Fiaz R, Sarnaik AA. Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Lifileucel Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Cell Therapy in Patients With Advanced Melanoma: A 5-Year Analysis of the C-144-01 Study. J Clin Oncol. 2025 Nov 20;43(33):3565-3572. PubMed PMID: 40454684
• Kirsch MJ, Yee EJ, Hosokawa P, Robinson W, Medina T, Mantle L, Hamner JB, McCarter MD, Stewart CL. Real world experience with omission of therapeutic lymph node dissection in clinical stage III malignant melanoma treated with checkpoint or kinase inhibition systemic therapy. Surg Oncol Insight. 2025 Mar;2(1). PubMed PMID: 40207185
• Patel SP, Sheth RA, Davis C, Medina T. Combination Immunotherapy With Nivolumab Plus Ipilimumab in Melanoma of Unknown Primary. J Clin Oncol. 2025 Mar 10;43(8):907-911. PubMed PMID: 39913893
• Bordeaux J, Blitzblau R, Aasi SZ, Alam M, Amini A, Bibee K, Bolotin D, Chen PL, Contreras CM, DiMaio D, Donigan JM, Farma JM, Ghosh K, Harms K, LeBoeuf N, Lukens JN, Manber S, Mark L, Medina T, Nehal KS, Nghiem P, Olino K, Paragh G, Park S, Patel T, Rich J, Shaha AR, Sharma B, Sokumbi Y, Srivastava D, Thomas V, Tomblinson C, Venkat P, Xu YG, Yu S, Yusuf M, McCullough B, Espinosa S. Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans, Version 1.2025, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines In Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2025 Jan;23(1). PubMed PMID: 39819674
• Lee SM, Hamid O, Jotte R, Zakharia Y, Medina T, Gillespie-Twardy A, Mehmi I, Chandra S, Watson G, Ward P, Chaney M, Lu H, Berndt J, O'Connor BP, Rathi K, Shaikh E, Cowey CL. Phase II Open-Label Trial of Brentuximab Vedotin with Pembrolizumab in PD-1-Pretreated Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Metastatic Cutaneous Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Mar 3;31(5):848-859. PubMed PMID: 39786430
• Wolchok JD, Chiarion-Sileni V, Rutkowski P, Cowey CL, Schadendorf D, Wagstaff J, Queirolo P, Dummer R, Butler MO, Hill AG, Postow MA, Gaudy-Marqueste C, Medina T, Lao CD, Walker J, Márquez-Rodas I, Haanen JBAG, Guidoboni M, Maio M, Schöffski P, Carlino MS, Sandhu S, Lebbé C, Ascierto PA, Long GV, Ritchings C, Nassar A, Askelson M, Benito MP, Wang W, Hodi FS, Larkin J. Final, 10-Year Outcomes with Nivolumab plus Ipilimumab in Advanced Melanoma. N Engl J Med. 2025 Jan 2;392(1):11-22. PubMed PMID: 39282897
• Wolchok JD, Chiarion-Sileni V, Rutkowski P, Cowey CL, Schadendorf D, Wagstaff J, Queirolo P, Dummer R, Butler MO, Hill AG, Postow MA, Gaudy-Marqueste C, Medina T, Lao CD, Walker J, Márquez-Rodas I, Haanen JBAG, Guidoboni M, Maio M, Schöffski P, Carlino MS, Sandhu S, Lebbé C, Ascierto PA, Long GV, Ritchings C, Nassar A, Askelson M, Benito MP, Wang W, Hodi FS, Larkin J. Final, 10-Year Outcomes with Nivolumab plus Ipilimumab in Advanced Melanoma. N Engl J Med. 2025 Jan 2;392(1):11-22. PubMed PMID: 39282897
• Turner JA, Van Gulick RJ, Robinson WA, Mughal T, Tobin RP, MacBeth ML, Holman B, Classon A, Bagby SM, Yacob BW, Hartman SJ, Silverman I, Vorwald VM, Gorden N, Gonzalez R, Gay LM, Ali SM, Benson A, Miller VA, Ross JS, Pitts TM, Rioth MJ, Lewis KD, Medina T, McCarter MD, Gonzalez R, Couts KL. Expanding the landscape of oncogenic drivers and treatment options in acral and mucosal melanomas by targeted genomic profiling. Int J Cancer. 2024 Nov 15;155(10):1792-1807. PubMed PMID: 39001563
• Bliley R, Avant A, Medina TM, Lanning RM. Radiation and Melanoma: Where Are We Now?. Curr Oncol Rep. 2024 Aug;26(8):904-914. PubMed PMID: 38822928
• Weber JS, Carlino MS, Khattak A, Meniawy T, Ansstas G, Taylor MH, Kim KB, McKean M, Long GV, Sullivan RJ, Faries M, Tran TT, Cowey CL, Pecora A, Shaheen M, Segar J, Medina T, Atkinson V, Gibney GT, Luke JJ, Thomas S, Buchbinder EI, Healy JA, Huang M, Morrissey M, Feldman I, Sehgal V, Robert-Tissot C, Hou P, Zhu L, Brown M, Aanur P, Meehan RS, Zaks T. Individualised neoantigen therapy mRNA-4157 (V940) plus pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab monotherapy in resected melanoma (KEYNOTE-942): a randomised, phase 2b study. Lancet. 2024 Feb 17;403(10427):632-644. PubMed PMID: 38246194
• Schmults CD, Blitzblau R, Aasi SZ, Alam M, Amini A, Bibee K, Bolotin D, Bordeaux J, Chen PL, Contreras CM, DiMaio D, Donigan JM, Farma JM, Ghosh K, Harms K, Ho AL, Lukens JN, Manber S, Mark L, Medina T, Nehal KS, Nghiem P, Olino K, Park S, Patel T, Puzanov I, Rich J, Sekulic A, Shaha AR, Srivastava D, Thomas V, Tomblinson C, Venkat P, Xu YG, Yu S, Yusuf M, McCullough B, Espinosa S. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Merkel Cell Carcinoma, Version 1.2024. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2024 Jan;22(1D):e240002. PubMed PMID: 38244274
• Lee S, Hamid O, Jotte R, Zakharia Y, Medina T, Gillespie-Twardy A, Mehmi I, Chandra S, Watson G, Ward P, Chaney M, Lu H, Berndt J, O'Connor BP, Rathi K, Shaikh E, Cowey CL. Phase 2 Open-Label Trial of Brentuximab Vedotin with Pembrolizumab in PD-1 Pretreated Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Metastatic Cutaneous Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2024 Dec 30. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 39786430
• Thompson JA, Schneider BJ, Brahmer J, Zaid MA, Achufusi A, Armand P, Berkenstock MK, Bermas B, Braaten T, Budde LE, Chokshi S, Crees ZD, Davies M, Deng C, Gesthalter Y, Jain M, Jain P, Jallouk A, Kaffenberger BH, Khalil M, Lechner MG, Li T, Marr A, McGettigan S, McPherson J, Medina T, Mohindra NA, Olszanski AJ, Oluwole O, Patel SP, Prosek J, Reddy S, Reid P, Ryan J, Ryder M, Salman H, Santomasso B, Shofer S, Sosman JA, Wang Y, Zaha VG, Zucker S, Lyons M, Awotiwon A, Hang L. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities, Version 2.2024. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2024 Nov;22(9):582-592. PubMed PMID: 39536465
• Sandhu S, Atkinson V, Cao MG, Medina T, Rivas AS, Menzies AM, Caro I, Roberts L, Song Y, Yan Y, Guo Y, Xue C, Long GV. Phase 1b study of cobimetinib plus atezolizumab in patients with advanced BRAF(V600) wild-type melanoma progressing on prior anti-programmed death-1 therapy. Eur J Cancer. 2023 Jan;178:180-190. PubMed PMID: 36455412
• Tobin RP, Cogswell DT, Cates VM, Davis DM, Borgers JSW, Van Gulick RJ, Katsnelson E, Couts KL, Jordan KR, Gao D, Davila E, Medina TM, Lewis KD, Gonzalez R, McFarland RW, Robinson WA, McCarter MD. Targeting MDSC differentiation using ATRA: a phase I/II clinical trial combining pembrolizumab and all-trans retinoic acid for metastatic melanoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Nov 15. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 36378549
• Thompson JA, Schneider BJ, Brahmer J, Achufusi A, Armand P, Berkenstock MK, Bhatia S, Budde LE, Chokshi S, Davies M, Elshoury A, Gesthalter Y, Hegde A, Jain M, Kaffenberger BH, Lechner MG, Li T, Marr A, McGettigan S, McPherson J, Medina T, Mohindra NA, Olszanski AJ, Oluwole O, Patel SP, Patil P, Reddy S, Ryder M, Santomasso B, Shofer S, Sosman JA, Wang Y, Zaha VG, Lyons M, Dwyer M, Hang L. Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities, Version 1.2022, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2022 Apr;20(4):387-405. PubMed PMID: 35390769
• Vorwald VM, Davis DM, Van Gulick RJ, Torphy RJ, Borgers JS, Klarquist J, Couts KL, Amato CM, Cogswell DT, Fujita M, Castleman MJ, Davis T, Lozupone C, Medina TM, Robinson WA, Gapin L, McCarter MD, Tobin RP. Circulating CD8( ) mucosal-associated invariant T cells correlate with improved treatment responses and overall survival in anti-PD-1-treated melanoma patients. Clin Transl Immunology. 2022;11(1):e1367. PubMed PMID: 35028137
• Torphy RJ, Friedman C, Ho F, Leonard LD, Thieu D, Lewis KD, Medina TM, Robinson WA, Gonzalez RC, Stewart CL, Kounalakis N, McCarter MD, Gleisner A. Adjuvant Therapy for Stage III Melanoma Without Immediate Completion Lymph Node Dissection. Ann Surg Oncol. 2022 Feb;29(2):806-815. PubMed PMID: 34537899
• Chesney J, Lewis KD, Kluger H, Hamid O, Whitman E, Thomas S, Wermke M, Cusnir M, Domingo-Musibay E, Phan GQ, Kirkwood JM, Hassel JC, Orloff M, Larkin J, Weber J, Furness AJS, Khushalani NI, Medina T, Egger ME, Graf Finckenstein F, Jagasia M, Hari P, Sulur G, Shi W, Wu X, Sarnaik A. Efficacy and safety of lifileucel, a one-time autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell therapy, in patients with advanced melanoma after progression on immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies: pooled analysis of consecutive cohorts of the C-144-01 study. J Immunother Cancer. 2022 Dec;10(12). PubMed PMID: 36600653
• Morton JJ, Alzofon N, Keysar SB, Chimed TS, Reisinger J, Perrenoud L, Le PN, Nieto C, Gomez K, Miller B, Yeager R, Gao D, Tan AC, Somerset H, Medina T, Wang XJ, Wang JH, Robinson W, Roop DR, Gonzalez R, Jimeno A. Studying Immunotherapy Resistance in a Melanoma Autologous Humanized Mouse Xenograft. Mol Cancer Res. 2021 Feb;19(2):346-357. PubMed PMID: 33087417
• Newell F, Wilmott JS, Johansson PA, Nones K, Addala V, Mukhopadhyay P, Broit N, Amato CM, Van Gulick R, Kazakoff SH, Patch AM, Koufariotis LT, Lakis V, Leonard C, Wood S, Holmes O, Xu Q, Lewis K, Medina T, Gonzalez R, Saw RPM, Spillane AJ, Stretch JR, Rawson RV, Ferguson PM, Dodds TJ, Thompson JF, Long GV, Levesque MP, Robinson WA, Pearson JV, Mann GJ, Scolyer RA, Waddell N, Hayward NK. Whole-genome sequencing of acral melanoma reveals genomic complexity and diversity. Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 16;11(1):5259. PubMed PMID: 33067454
• Amato CM, Hintzsche JD, Wells K, Applegate A, Gorden NT, Vorwald VM, Tobin RP, Nassar K, Shellman YG, Kim J, Medina TM, Rioth M, Lewis KD, McCarter MD, Gonzalez R, Tan AC, Robinson WA. Pre-Treatment Mutational and Transcriptomic Landscape of Responding Metastatic Melanoma Patients to Anti-PD1 Immunotherapy. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jul 17;12(7). PubMed PMID: 32708981
• Kondapalli L, Medina T, Groves DW. Practical cardiovascular imaging approach to diagnose immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis. Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2020 Dec 24. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33367684
• Carmichael H, King BBT, Friedman C, Torphy RJ, Medina T, Gleisner A, McCarter MD, Kwak JJ, Kounalakis N. Frequency and implications of occipital and posterior auricular sentinel lymph nodes in scalp melanoma. J Surg Oncol. 2019 Dec;120(8):1470-1475. PubMed PMID: 31614003
• Friedman C, Lyon M, Torphy RJ, Thieu D, Hosokawa P, Gonzalez R, Lewis KD, Medina TM, Rioth MJ, Robinson WA, Kounalakis N, McCarter MD, Gleisner AL. A nomogram to predict node positivity in patients with thin melanomas helps inform shared patient decision making. J Surg Oncol. 2019 Dec;120(7):1276-1283. PubMed PMID: 31602665
• Couts KL, Bemis J, Turner JA, Bagby SM, Murphy D, Christiansen J, Hintzsche JD, Le A, Pitts TM, Wells K, Applegate A, Amato C, Multani P, Chow-Maneval E, Tentler JJ, Shellman YG, Rioth MJ, Tan AC, Gonzalez R, Medina T, Doebele RC, Robinson WA. ALK Inhibitor Response in Melanomas Expressing EML4-ALK Fusions and Alternate ALK Isoforms. Mol Cancer Ther. 2018 Jan;17(1):222-231. PubMed PMID: 29054983
• Guidry J, Brown M, Medina T. PD-1 inhibitor induced alopecia areata. Dermatol Online J. 2018 Dec 15;24(12). PubMed PMID: 30677804
• Ribas A, Medina T, Kummar S, Amin A, Kalbasi A, Drabick JJ, Barve M, Daniels GA, Wong DJ, Schmidt EV, Candia AF, Coffman RL, Leung ACF, Janssen RS. SD-101 in Combination with Pembrolizumab in Advanced Melanoma: Results of a Phase Ib, Multicenter Study. Cancer Discov. 2018 Oct;8(10):1250-1257. PubMed PMID: 30154193
• Couts KL, Bemis J, Turner JA, Bagby SM, Murphy D, Christiansen J, Hintzsche JD, Le A, Pitts TM, Wells K, Applegate A, Amato C, Multani P, Chow-Maneval E, Tentler JJ, Shellman YG, Rioth MJ, Tan AC, Gonzalez R, Medina T, Doebele RC, Robinson WA. ALK Inhibitor Response in Melanomas Expressing EML4-ALK Fusions and Alternate ALK Isoforms. Mol Cancer Ther. 2018 Jan;17(1):222-231. PubMed PMID: 29054983
• Hintzsche JD, Gorden NT, Amato CM, Kim J, Wuensch KE, Robinson SE, Applegate AJ, Couts KL, Medina TM, Wells KR, Wisell JA, McCarter MD, Box NF, Shellman YG, Gonzalez RC, Lewis KD, Tentler JJ, Tan AC, Robinson WA. Whole-exome sequencing identifies recurrent SF3B1 R625 mutation and comutation of NF1 and KIT in mucosal melanoma. Melanoma Res. 2017 Jun;27(3):189-199. PubMed PMID: 28296713
• Medina TM, Lewis KD. The evolution of combined molecular targeted therapies to advance the therapeutic efficacy in melanoma: a highlight of vemurafenib and cobimetinib. Onco Targets Ther. 2016 Jun 22;9:3739-52. PubMed PMID: 27382311

Professional Memberships

• Colorado Medical Society (CMS), Member
• American College of Physicians (ACP), Member
• American Chemical Society, Member

Practice Locations

University of Colorado Cancer Center - Anschutz Medical Campus
1665 Aurora Ct
Aurora, CO 80045
720-848-0300

UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital (UCH)
12605 E. 16th Ave
Aurora, CO 80045
720-848-0000

Specialty Information

Specialties

• Internal Medicine
• Medical Oncology (2011)