Since joining the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in July 2013, Dr. Amaria has worked to establish herself as a clinical and translational researcher.  Dr. Amaria's research interests have coalesced around two major subjects; neoadjuvant therapy and translational immunotherapy including adoptive cell therapy in metastatic melanoma. Dr. Amaria has designed and implemented three clinical trials for neoadjuvant therapy in patients with high risk, resectable melanoma. These trials have produced compelling clinical and translational data and provide a framework for standardization of neoadjuvant treatment in advanced stage melanoma. Additionally, Dr. Amaria is currently leading the melanoma adoptive cell therapy program and is responsible for running trials utilizing genetically modified T cells as well as combination therapy with checkpoint inhibition. She is also managing TIL therapy in other solid tumors including various forms of gynecologic and gastrointestinal cancers and sarcomas. She is also the co-leader of the Melanoma Biospecimen Collection Team and in this role she oversees collection of serial blood and tumor samples from patients being treated with systemic therapies to help in understanding molecular and immunologic mechanisms of treatment response or failure.  Additionally, Dr. Amaria has established a busy clinical practice and has extensive experience treating melanoma patients on and off clinical trial protocols.