Melissa Genevieve Lechner

Melissa Genevieve Lechner is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, specializing in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. Her research bridges autoimmune disease and cancer immunotherapy, focusing on immune-related adverse events (irAEs) from checkpoint inhibitors. She established UCLA's Onco-Endocrinology clinic to manage endocrine complications of cancer therapies and conducts prospective clinical trials on thyroid autoimmunity and irAEs.

• Clinical expertise: Thyroid nodules, immunotherapy-induced endocrinopathies
• Research: Mechanisms of immune tolerance breakdown, IL-21-driven autoimmunity, JAK inhibitor therapy
• Key collaborations: NIH, Aramont Charitable Foundation, American Thyroid Association

Her 2025-2024 publications highlight T follicular helper cells in autoimmune diabetes, epigenetic regulation of T cell fate, and multi-tissue irAE patterns. She serves on the NCCN Guidelines panel for immunotherapy toxicities. Clinical trials include mechanisms of checkpoint inhibitor thyroiditis and immune profiling in cancer patients.

Scientific honors include the Early-Stage Immunologist Award (Aramont Foundation, 2021-2024), oral awards from AAI (2023) and ATA (2022), and a US patent for myeloid-derived suppressor cell markers (2014).