Melissa Assel
Papers
8
Total Citations
98
H-Index
5
About
Melissa Assel is a biostatistician and health outcomes researcher whose work centers on improving surgical safety and quality in urologic oncology and ambulatory cancer care. Her research spans three key areas: perioperative outcomes for high-risk populations, opioid stewardship, and surgical performance metrics. She has made major contributions by providing evidence that challenges longstanding clinical dogma—for example, demonstrating that eliminating routine surgical drains after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy does not increase complications (22 citations) and that standardizing opioid prescriptions after ambulatory oncologic surgery significantly reduces overprescription (24 citations). Her work on obstructive sleep apnea patients undergoing cancer surgery (29 citations) has informed national guidelines on ambulatory surgery suitability. Assel also contributed to a landmark randomized trial comparing open versus robot-assisted radical cystectomy, analyzing uretero-enteric stricture outcomes. Her most recent work develops novel surgical performance metrics that predict long-term patient-reported outcomes after radical prostatectomy, and she is investigating fluorescence-guided surgery with rizedisben to improve intraoperative nerve identification. With over 90 total citations, Assel’s research directly translates into safer, more patient-centered surgical care.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 6Rizedisben in Minimally Invasive Surgery4 citations · 2025
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