Brittani K.N. Seynnaeve, MD, MS

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  • Director, Pediatric Melanoma Program
  • Associate Fellowship Program Director, Division of Hematology-Oncology

Dr. Seynnaeve received her Bachelor of Science degree from University of Pittsburgh, graduating summa cum laude with a major in molecular biology and minor in chemistry in 2007. She received her Medical Degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine in 2011 having earned accolades including Alpha Omega Alpha and the Ferrari Pediatrics Scholar Award. Dr. Seynnaeve then completed her Pediatric Residency training at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh from 2011 to 2014 having earned the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatric Residency Foundation Scholarship. She pursued subspecialty training in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, completing her fellowship in 2017. She obtained a Master of Science Degree in Clinical Research at the University of Pittsburgh during her fellowship and also completed a post-doctoral T32 training program in skin biology and cancer at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center while conducting pediatric melanoma research, for which she also earned a CureRock Trainee Research Award.

Dr. Seynnaeve joined the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2017. Dr. Seynnaeve cares for children with a broad array of hematology and oncology diagnoses, though has a specific clinical and research interest and expertise in pediatric melanoma. She is Clinical Director of the Pediatric Melanoma Program which she established as a multidisciplinary team approach at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Hillman Cancer Center to care for patients diagnosed with melanoma and associated melanocytic tumors. She is active in collaborative research serving as Principal Investigator the first pediatric melanoma clinical trial to open at UPMC which also serves as the first US site to offer patient enrollment for an international, multicenter study.

She is Principal Investigator for a multi-institutional retrospective database of pediatric melanoma patients from University of Pittsburgh and eight additional large collaborating melanoma treatment sites and has published on whether specific mutational patterns have prognostic implications in melanocytic lesions in pediatric patients. Nationally, she is an active member of the Melanoma Research Foundation Pediatric Melanoma Steering Committee, Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Rare Tumor Committee, and the Melanoma Committee of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group. She is also active in medical education serving as the Associate Fellowship Program Director of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship program.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Society of Pediatric Hematolgoy and Oncology, 2014-Present
  • Children's Oncology Group, 2016-Present
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2016-Present
  • The American Balint Society, 2017-Present
  • Association of Pediatric Program Directors, 2018-Present

Education & Training

  • BS, Molecular Biology/Chemistry, summa cum laude, University of Pittsburgh, 2007
  • MD, West Virginia University, 2011
  • Residency in Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh-UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2011-2014
  • Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, University of Pittsburgh-UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2014-2017
  • Postdoctoral T32 Training Program in Skin Biology and Cancer, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, 2015-2017
  • MS, Clinical Research, University of Pittsburgh, 2017

Selected Publications

 

Goetzman ES, Wang Y, He M, Mohsen AW, Ninness BK, Vockley J. Expression and characterization of mutations in human very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase using a prokaryotic system. Mol Genet Metab. 2007 Jun;91(2):138-47. doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2007.01.013. Epub 2007 Mar 19. PMID: 17374501; PMCID: PMC2702680.

Seynnaeve B, Lee S, Borah S, Park Y, Pappo A, Kirkwood JM, Bahrami A. Genetic and Epigenetic Alterations of TERT Are Associated with Inferior Outcome in Adolescent and Young Adult Patients with Melanoma. Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 5;7:45704. doi: 10.1038/srep45704. PMID: 28378855; PMCID: PMC5381111.

Fusco JC, Seynnaeve BKN, Davit AJ 3rd, Czachowski MR, Joyce JM, Gaines BA, Malek MM. Use of intraoperative nuclear imaging leads to decreased anesthesia time and real-time confirmation of lesion removal. J Pediatr Surg. 2017 Oct 9:S0022-3468(17)30641-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2017.10.019. PMID: 29106918.

Close AG, Dreyzin A, Miller KD, Seynnaeve BKN, Rapkin LB. Adolescent and young adult oncology-past, present, and future. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019 Nov;69(6):485-496. doi: 10.3322/caac.21585. Epub 2019 Oct 8. PMID: 31594027.

Chun-On P, Hinchie AM, Beale HC, Gil Silva AA, Rush E, Sander C, Connelly CJ, Seynnaeve BKN, Kirkwood JM, Vaske OM, Greider CW, Alder JK. TPP1 promoter mutations cooperate with TERT promoter mutations to lengthen telomeres in melanoma. Science. 2022 Nov 11;378(6620):664-668. doi: 10.1126/science.abq0607. Epub 2022 Nov 10. PMID: 36356143.

Kris Ann P. Schultz, Murali Chintagumpala, Jin Piao, Kenneth S. Chen, Rachana Shah, Robyn D. Gartrell, Emily Christison-Lagay, Farzana Pashnakar, Jesse L. Berry, Allison F. O’Neill, Lauren M. Vasta, Ashley Flynn, Sarah G. Mitchell, Brittani KN. Seynnaeve, Jeremy Rosenblum, Samara L. Potter, Junne Kamihara, Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, Douglas S. Hawkins, Theodore W. Laetsch,Rare tumors: Opportunities and challenges from the Children’s Oncology Group perspective, EJC Paediatric Oncology, Volume 2, 2023, 100024, ISSN 2772-610X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcped.2023.100024.

Bedoyan S, Kurzinski KL, Seynnaeve B, Fuhrman DY.  New Onset Nephrotic Syndrome in a 17-Year Old.  Pediatrics in Review. PIR/2022/005863.  

Seynnaeve, BK, Maurer, SH, & Arnold, RM. Communicating prognosis at diagnosis and relapse or progression. In Ethical Issues in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, 2019 (pp. 39-56). doi:10.1007/978-3-030-22684-8_3

 

Academic and Research Interests

  • Pediatric Oncology
  • Melanoma
  • Solid Tumors
  • Pediatric Hematolog/Oncology Fellowship