Maria Velez, MD, MS

Maria A. Velez, MD, MS

Clinical Instructor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology

Languages

English

Education

Fellowship

Hematology and Oncology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 2024

Degrees

MS, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 2023
MD, Universidad CES, Medellin, Colombia, 2014

Residency

Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, 2020

Board Certification

Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2020

Contact Information

Scientific Interests

Dr. Velez's primary research interests lie in the design and execution of clinical trials focused on patients with lung and head and neck cancers. Additionally, she is dedicated to investigating the barriers that prevent the inclusion of patients from historically underrepresented backgrounds in clinical trials, with a particular focus on those who are non-English speakers.

Highlighted Publications

Zhou N, Velez MA, Bachrach B, Gukasyan J, Fares CM, Cummings AL, Lind- Lebuffe JP, Akingbemi WO, Li DY, Brodrick PM, Yessuf NM, Rettinger S, Grogan T, Rochigneux P, Goldman JW, Garon EB, Lisberg A. Immune checkpoint inhibitor induced thyroid dysfunction is a frequent event post-treatment in NSCLC. Lung cancer (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 2021;161:34-41. Epub 2021/09/11. doi: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2021.08.009. PubMed PMID: 34507111. Dr. Velez is a co-first author on this publication with Dr. Zhou as she played and essential role in the design and analysis of this publication.

Somasundaram A, Cillo AR, Lampenfeld C, Workman CJ, Kunning S, Oliveri L, Velez M, Joyce S, Calderon M, Dadey R, Rajasundaram D, Normolle DP, Watkins SC, Herman JG, Kirkwood JM, Lipson EJ, Ferris RL, Bruno TC, Vignali DAA. Systemic Immune Dysfunction in Cancer Patients Driven by IL6 Induction of LAG3 in Peripheral CD8+ T Cells. Cancer Immunol Res. 2022;10(7):885-99. Epub 2022/05/20. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.Cir-20-0736. PubMed PMID: 35587532.

Velez MA, Glenn BA, Garcia-Jimenez M, Cummings AL, Lisberg A, Nañez A, Radwan Y, Lind-Lebuffe JP, Brodrick PM, Li DY, Fernandez-Turizo MJ, Gower A, Lindenbaum M, Hegde M, Brook J, Grogan T, Elashoff D, Teitell MA, Garon EB. Consent document translation expense hinders inclusive clinical trial enrolment. Nature. 2023;620(7975):855-62. Epub 2023/08/03. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06382- 0. PubMed PMID: 37532930.

Velez MA, Garon EB. Is There a Place for Temozolomide plus Nivolumab among Neuroendocrine Neoplasms? Clinical cancer research: an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 2023;29(4):691-3. doi: 10.1158/1078- 0432.Ccr-22-3229. PubMed PMID: 36520037.