# Christian Blank

Source: https://onco.cc/people/christian-blank/  
OnCo record `christian-blank` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Led NADINA, which showed giving immunotherapy before melanoma surgery beats giving it after.

## Summary

Christian Blank is a medical oncologist and group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI-AvL) and Professor at Leiden University. His specialisms are melanoma, neoadjuvant immunotherapy and immune biomarkers. He pioneered checkpoint blockade before melanoma surgery through the OpACIN and PRADO studies and the phase 3 NADINA trial, which established response-directed neoadjuvant nivolumab plus ipilimumab. His New England Journal of Medicine paper on NADINA reported neoadjuvant nivolumab and ipilimumab in resectable stage III melanoma, showing that immunotherapy given before surgery beats giving it after. His publications are listed on PubMed.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Medical Oncologist and Group Leader, Netherlands Cancer Institute; Professor, Leiden University
- Specialisms: Melanoma; Neoadjuvant immunotherapy; Immune biomarkers

## Sources

- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Blank%20CU%5BAuthor%5D%20neoadjuvant%20melanoma

## Connected records

- cancers: [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/), [Stage III melanoma (after surgery)](https://onco.cc/cancers/stage-iii-melanoma/)
- drugs: [Ipilimumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/ipilimumab/), [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/)
- institutions: [Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI-AvL)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nki/)
- terms: [Neoadjuvant / adjuvant / perioperative](https://onco.cc/terms/neoadjuvant-adjuvant/)
- trials: [NADINA](https://onco.cc/trials/nadina/)
- ideas: [Treat the draining lymph node before removing it](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-lymph-node-immune-priming/), [Use pre-surgery immunotherapy windows as the field's biomarker engine](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-neoadjuvant-biomarker-engine/)
- key papers: [NADINA: two doses of ipilimumab plus nivolumab before surgery beat a year of nivolumab after surgery in stage III melanoma](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-nadina-nejm-2024/)

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