Melissa Zimel, MD

Melissa Zimel, MD

Melissa Zimel, MD

Associate Professor

Orthopaedic Oncology

Mission Bay - Orthopaedic Oncology

1825 Fourth Street
San Francisco CA 94158

415-885-3800
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UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland - Orthopaedic Oncology

744 52nd Street
Oakland CA 94609

510-428-3238
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Publications

Nik-Ahd M, Agrawal AK, Zimel M. Diagnosis and management of pediatric primary bone tumors in the emergency department. Pediatr Emerg Med Pract. 2021 Jul; 18(7):1-20. PMID: 34196516

Wustrack RL, Shao E, Sheridan J, Zimel M, Cho SJ, Horvai AE, Luong D, Kwek SS, Fong L, Okimoto RA. Tumor morphology and location associate with immune cell composition in pleomorphic sarcoma. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2021 Oct; 70(10):3031-3040. PMID: 33864502

von Mehren M, Kane JM, Bui MM, Choy E, Connelly M, Dry S, Ganjoo KN, George S, Gonzalez RJ, Heslin MJ, Homsi J, Keedy V, Kelly CM, Kim E, Liebner D, McCarter M, McGarry SV, Meyer C, Pappo AS, Parkes AM, Paz IB, Petersen IA, Poppe M, Riedel RF, Rubin B, Schuetze S, Shabason J, Sicklick JK, Spraker MB, Zimel M, Bergman MA, George GV. NCCN Guidelines Insights: Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Version 1.2021. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2020 12 02; 18(12):1604-1612. PMID: 33285515

Chew J, Lloyd SA, Okimoto RA, Sabnis A, Nakakura E, Corvera C, Zimel MN, Horvai AE, Cho SJ, Wustrack RL, Braunstein SE. . Outcomes of Elderly Patients with Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Extremities. Int J of Rad Onc Biology Physics. 2020; 6(108). PMID:

Ramezanpour S, Horvai AE, Zimel M, Bucknor M, Link TM. Fibroma-like perivascular epithelioid cell tumor: a rare case in a long bone. Skeletal Radiol. 2021 Apr; 50(4):821-825. PMID: 32944815

Chen WS, Lometti M, Wustrack RL, Zimel MN, O'Donnell RJ, Horvai AE, Cho SJ, Okimoto RA, Jahan TM, Gottschalk AR, Braunstein SE. . Intraoperative Radiotherapy Without External Beam Radiotherapy in the Management of Primary Soft Tissue Sarcomas of the Extremities. Int J of Rad Onc Biology Physics. 2020; 5(108). PMID:

Butte Z, Tanaka K, Andaya V, Zimel M, O'Donnell R, Wustrack R. Ann Joint 2020; 5:27. Risk of Endoprosthetic Infection and Impact of Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Osteosarcoma and Giant Cell Tumor of Bone; a Retrospective Case-Control Study. Ann Joint. 2020; 27(5). PMID:

Zaid M, Chavez MR, Carrasco AE, Zimel MN, Zhang AL, Horvai AE, Link TM, O'Donnell RJ. Cutibacterium (formerly Propionibacterium) acnes clavicular infection. J Bone Jt Infect. 2019; 4(1):40-49. PMID: 30755847

Loy BN, Zimel M, Gowda AL, Tooley TR, Maerz T, Bicos J, Guettler J. A Biomechanical and Structural Comparison of Articular Cartilage and Subchondral Bone of the Glenoid and Humeral Head. Orthop J Sports Med. 2018 Jul; 6(7):2325967118785854. PMID: 30046634

Weiss KR, Zimel MN. Considerations for the Long Term Treatment of Pediatric Sarcoma Survivors. Indian J Orthop. 2018 Jan-Feb; 52(1):77-80. PMID: 29416174

Nakajima K, Kho DH, Yanagawa T, Zimel M, Heath E, Hogan V, Raz A. Galectin-3 in bone tumor microenvironment: a beacon for individual skeletal metastasis management. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2016 Jun; 35(2):333-46. PMID: 27067726

Zimel MN, Hwang S, Riedel ER, Healey JH. Carbon fiber intramedullary nails reduce artifact in postoperative advanced imaging. Skeletal Radiol. 2015 Sep; 44(9):1317-25. PMID: 25982252

Budge MD, Moravek JE, Zimel MN, Nolan EM, Wiater JM. Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty for the management of failed shoulder arthroplasty with proximal humeral bone loss: is allograft augmentation necessary? J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2013 Jun; 22(6):739-44. PMID: 23021901

Zimel MN, Cizik AM, Rapp TB, Weisstein JS, Conrad EU. Megaprosthesis versus Condyle-sparing intercalary allograft: distal femoral sarcoma. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2009 Nov; 467(11):2813-24. PMID: 19662462

Zimel MN, Horowitz CB, Rajasekhar VK, Christ AB, Wei X, Wu J, Wojnarowicz PM, Wang D, Goldring SR, Purdue PE, Healey JH. HPMA-Copolymer Nanocarrier Targets Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Primary and Metastatic Breast Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther. 2017 Dec; 16(12):2701-2710. PMID: 28830983

von Mehren M, Kane JM, Agulnik M, Bui MM, Carr-Ascher J, Choy E, Connelly M, Dry S, Ganjoo KN, Gonzalez RJ, Holder A, Homsi J, Keedy V, Kelly CM, Kim E, Liebner D, McCarter M, McGarry SV, Mesko NW, Meyer C, Pappo AS, Parkes AM, Petersen IA, Pollack SM, Poppe M, Riedel RF, Schuetze S, Shabason J, Sicklick JK, Spraker MB, Zimel M, Hang LE, Sundar H, Bergman MA. Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Version 2.2022, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2022 07; 20(7):815-833. PMID: 35830886

Schott CR, Koehne AL, Sayles LC, Young EP, Luck C, Yu K, Lee AG, Breese MR, Leung SG, Xu H, Shah AT, Liu HY, Spillinger A, Behroozfard IH, Marini KD, Dinh PT, Pons Ventura MAV, Vanderboon EN, Hazard FK, Cho SJ, Avedian RS, Mohler DG, Zimel M, Wustrack R, Curtis C, Sirota M, Sweet-Cordero EA. Development and characterization of new patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of osteosarcoma with distinct metastatic capacities. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 20. PMID: 36711882

Zimel MN, Farfalli GL, Zindman AM, Riedel ER, Morris CD, Boland PJ, Healey JH. Revision Distal Femoral Arthroplasty With the Compress(®) Prosthesis Has a Low Rate of Mechanical Failure at 10 Years. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2016 Feb; 474(2):528-36. PMID: 26394638

von Mehren M, Kane JM, Riedel RF, Sicklick JK, Pollack SM, Agulnik M, Bui MM, Carr-Ascher J, Choy E, Connelly M, Dry S, Ganjoo KN, Gonzalez RJ, Holder A, Homsi J, Keedy V, Kelly CM, Kim E, Liebner D, McCarter M, McGarry SV, Mesko NW, Meyer C, Pappo AS, Parkes AM, Petersen IA, Poppe M, Schuetze S, Shabason J, Spraker MB, Zimel M, Bergman MA, Sundar H, Hang LE. NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors, Version 2.2022. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2022 11; 20(11):1204-1214. PMID: 36351335

Tanaka KS, Andaya VR, Thorpe SW, Gundle KR, Hayden JB, Duong YC, Avedian RS, Mohler DG, Morse LJ, Zimel MN, O'Donnell RJ, Fang A, Randall RL, Tran TH, New C, Wustrack RL, other members of Study Group FORCE. Survival and failure modes of the Compress® spindle and expandable distal femur endoprosthesis among pediatric patients: A multi-institutional study. J Surg Oncol. 2023 Jan; 127(1):148-158. PMID: 36112398

Jackson KJ, Sullivan CD, Zimel MN, Wustrack RL, PARITY Investigators. Surgical Site Infection Is Not Associated with 1-Year Progression-Free Survival After Endoprosthetic Reconstruction for Lower-Extremity Osteosarcoma: A Secondary Analysis of PARITY Study Data. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2023 07 19; 105(Suppl 1):49-56. PMID: 37466580

Boone SL, Horvai AE, Zimel MN, Brown R, Link TM, McGill KC. Botryomycosis: a rare mimic of sarcoma as an initial presentation of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Skeletal Radiol. 2023 Dec 01. PMID: 38036751

Schott CR, Koehne AL, Sayles LC, Young EP, Luck C, Yu K, Lee AG, Breese MR, Leung SG, Xu H, Shah AT, Liu HY, Spillinger A, Behroozfard IH, Marini KD, Dinh PT, Pons Ventura MV, Vanderboon EN, Hazard FK, Cho SJ, Avedian RS, Mohler DG, Zimel M, Wustrack R, Curtis C, Sirota M, Sweet-Cordero EA. Osteosarcoma PDX-Derived Cell Line Models for Preclinical Drug Evaluation Demonstrate Metastasis Inhibition by Dinaciclib through a Genome-Targeted Approach. Clin Cancer Res. 2024 02 16; 30(4):849-864. PMID: 37703185

Education

		University of California	2018
		Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	07/2015
		William Beaumont Hospital	06/2013
	MD	Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine	05/2008
	BA	University of Southern California	05/2004

About Melissa Zimel, MD

Dr. Melissa Zimel is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of children and adults with bone and soft tissue tumors and tumor-like conditions. As an orthopaedic oncologist, Dr. Zimel is trained to evaluate and manage benign and malignant neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases of the extremities, pelvis, and trunk.

Dr. Zimel is trained in complex joint reconstruction with custom implants for patients requiring removal of a cancerous bone tumor. She also treats patients with metastatic bone cancer, performing fixation of impending pathologic fractures. Dr. Zimel is an active researcher who is focused on optimizing clinical outcomes in musculoskeletal oncology conditions, including primary and secondary malignancies, in both limb salvage and amputation patients.

Dr. Zimel grew up in Portland, Oregon, where she attended Jesuit High School. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Southern California. She received her M.D. degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and she completed her residency in orthopaedic surgery at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. She then completed two additional years of fellowship training in orthopaedic oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Zimel then joined the Sarcoma Oncology Multidisciplinary Team at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, where she served as an Assistant Professor of Oncology at Wayne State University.

Dr. Zimel also serves as director of the UCSF Sarcoma Center, a multidisciplinary team of sarcoma specialists who provide patients with the most precise diagnostic tools, novel surgical and reconstructive techniques, and promising new therapies. Learn more: https://sarcoma.ucsf.edu/.

In 2024, Dr. Zimel was named recipient of the prestigious UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Award for the 2023-24 academic year. Dr. Zimel, an orthopaedic oncologist renowned for her dedication to patient care and medical innovation, has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to the field.

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