Dr. Christopher Lao received his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and completed Internal Medicine residency training at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Dr. Lao also obtained a Master's in Public Health degree in Epidemiology from Emory University. He completed a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Michigan and joined the faculty in 2004. In 2016, Dr. Lao was appointed the Medical Director of Clinical Research for Oncology at U of M. He specializes in the care of patients with Melanoma and Advanced Cutaneous Oncology including Merkel Cell Carcinoma. Dr. Lao's research interests include experimental therapeutics for advanced Melanoma and has had funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop new strategies for Melanoma chemoprevention.