Susan M. Swetter, MD
Susan M. Swetter, MD, is Professor of Dermatology, Co-Director of the Pigmented Lesion and Melanoma Program, and Co-Leader of the Cutaneous Oncology Program at Stanford University Medical Center and Cancer Institute. She also serves as Assistant Chief of the Dermatology Service in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
Dr. Swetter received a BA with Distinction from the University of Virginia in 1986 and her MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1990. She completed an internship in internal medicine at University of California San Francisco in 1991, followed by dermatology residency/chief residency at Stanford. She joined the Stanford Dermatology faculty in 1994 and has directed the Pigmented Lesion and Melanoma Programs at Stanford (through 2023) and VA Palo Alto Medical Centers since 1995.
Dr. Swetter’s research interests include primary and secondary melanoma prevention strategies and clinical studies of melanoma epidemiology, prognostic factors, and therapeutic prevention. She has published over 300 scholarly articles, reviews, and textbook chapters. Dr. Swetter has served on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Melanoma Panel since 2007 and was appointed as NCCN Melanoma Panel Chair in 2020. She also chaired the 2019 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) melanoma clinical practice guidelines (CPG) update and serves on the current AAD Melanoma CPG Work Group.
Dr. Swetter co-founded (in 2002) and co-directs the Melanoma Prevention Working Group a multi-center, interdisciplinary, NCTN/Intergroup collaboration dedicated to melanoma control. She is currently leading the Wipe Out Melanoma-California initiative, as part of the national War on Melanoma™ federated states model. She established the Melanoma Community Registry of California and a statewide coalition of academic and health system partners to target high-risk populations for melanoma early detection through community engagement and novel technologies, including artificial intelligence/machine learning.