Editorial Board

Dr Spyridon “Spyros” Bakas is an endowed chair Associate Professor in the departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Radiology & Imaging Sciences, Neurological Surgery, Biostatistics & Health Data Science, and Computer Science at Indiana University. He is also the Director of the Federated Learning Research Center, and the Director of the Computational Pathology Division at IU School of Medicine.

He focuses on developing, applying, & benchmarking computational algorithms for improving disease assessment in clinical practice. He has been leading projects on image quantification, radio-patho-genomics, and federated learning (FL), towards enabling personalized treatment selection models, while addressing health disparities and inequities. His NIH/NCI-funded group introduced FL in healthcare in 2018 and drove the largest to-date glioblastoma study (facilitated by FL) including data of >6,300 patients from 71 sites across 6 continents.

He has co-authored >100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and >80 abstracts, with collaborators across academic ranks and disciplines. He is a member of the MICCAI Board of Directors, founding board member and treasurer of the MICCAI WG on Biomedical Image Analysis Challenges (SIG-BIAS), the Vice Chair for Benchmarking & Clinical Translation in the MLCommons’ Medical group, the co-lead of the AI-RANO working group, and has served as the organizer and chair of numerous challenges, workshops, and tutorials at both technical and clinical meetings.

Born in Patras (Greece), before joining Indiana University, Dr. Bakas completed all his university studies in London (UK) and his postdoctoral training on predictive modeling for glioblastoma at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA, USA).

As the Associate Director for Informatics and Data Science (IDS) Program in the NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), Dr. Barnholtz-Sloan leads efforts at CBIIT to shape data science strategies and to foster collaboration within NCI and across NIH and the cancer research community. She also has a robust research agenda in descriptive epidemiology and etiology of brain tumors as an intramural NCI researcher in NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), Trans-Divisional Research Program. Blending these two unique perspectives—as an active researcher and as an administrator—gives her unique insight into how data can be translated into real-world solutions to help diagnose, prevent, and treat cancer.  Dr. Barnholtz-Sloan is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the fields of cancer informatics and data science and is multi-disciplinary trained in biostatistics, epidemiology, and human genetics. 

Dr Florien Boele is an Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at the University of Leeds. Dr Boele has a background in neuropsychology and obtained her PhD from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam (2015). She leads a small research group which focuses on health-related quality of life and (access to) support in (neuro-)oncology patients and family caregivers. Dr Boele is involved in several clinical trials as patient-centered outcomes expert.

In addition, Dr Boele is an active member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Group, and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO). She currently chairs the EANO Nurse & Allied Health Professionals Committee. She is involved in several international initiatives such as the Response Assessment in Neuro Oncology (RANO) – Cares working group, the International Neuro-oncology Caregiver Consortium (INCC), and the Setting International Standards in Analysing Patient-Reported Outcomes and Quality of Life Endpoints in Cancer Clinical Trials – IMI (SISAQOL-IMI) consortium.

From 2024, next to her academic role at the University of Leeds, Dr Boele will take up a role at the Dutch Cancer Society to help guide the long-term quality of life research funding strategy. 

Dr. E. Antonio “Nino” Chiocca is the Harvey Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and the Neurosurgeon-in-Chief and Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery and Co-Director of the Program for Interdisciplinary Neurosciences at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He was previously the Dardinger Family Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Ohio State University Medical Center. 

Dr. Chiocca research interests focus both on the biological basis of brain cancer and on designing experimental therapeutics. He has more than 300 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell, and PNAS.  He has elucidated how viruses with specific gene mutations will replicate selectively in tumors with a specific defect in a tumor suppressor pathway. He has also shown how modulation of innate immunity will improve replication of these tumor-selective viruses. More recently, he has elucidated how specific microRNAs (mir128 and mir451) regulate cellular target transcripts to permit tumor cell self-renewal and invasion into brain.

Dr. Chiocca has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1996. He has been PI of three multi-institutional clinical trials of gene-, viral-therapies for malignant gliomas, has been a permanent member of NIH study sections (NCI DT and NCI P01-D clinical studies), and has been a member of the federal recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC/OBA) and of the NINDS Scientific Advisory Council.

Dr. Chiocca was elected Vice-President of the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) in 2013 and served as the Society’s President from 2015-2017.  He served as President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery (AANS) in 2018-2019 and is currently the Secretary of the AANS as well as President-Elect of the Society for Neurological Surgeons. He also serves on the scientific advisory board of several foundations (Sontag, American Brain Tumor Association). He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2005, as an AAAS fellow (2005), and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine) in 2014.  He has served on multiple editorial boards and is the current Tumor Section Editor for Neurosurgery and Associate Editor for Neuro-Oncology. He was on the editorial board of Journal of Neurosurgery from 2005 until 2012.    

Born in Padua, Italy, Dr. Chiocca completed his MD and PhD doctoral training at the University of Texas Medical School and the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston, TX and his residency in neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Howard Colman is a tenured professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Internal Medicine (Oncology) at the University of Utah. He is leader of the Center for Neurologic Cancers at HCI. Dr. Colman received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed a Neuro-Oncology fellowship at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and is board-certified in Neurology and Neuro-Oncology.

Dr. Colman divides his time between patient care and clinical and laboratory research. Dr. Colman's clinical interests are treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors and diagnosis and management of neurologic complications of cancer. His clinical research is focused on developing and testing new therapies for brain tumors. His laboratory interests are identification of molecular markers of prognosis and treatment response in brain tumors and the role of tumor stem cells in the development and treatment of resistance of brain tumors.

Dr. Colman has been PI and co-investigator on multiple brain tumor clinical trials and grants. He is currently the HCI P.I. for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology cooperative group, a member of the Board of Directors for Alliance, and a member of the Neuro-Oncology Committee for Alliance. He is a member of the steering committee for the HCI U10 cooperative groups grant. He has served as PI, Co-I, or Project Leader on multiple NCI- and NIH-funded grants and clinical trials. At HCI, he serves in multiple leadership positions including Co-Leader of the Experimental Therapeutics CCSG Program, Co-Leader of the Neurologic Disease Center, Leader of the Computational Oncology Research Initiative, and Co-PI or the Total Cancer Care institutional consent and tissue banking program. He is the former Medical Director of Neuro-Oncology at Intermountain Medical Center, and former Acting Chair of Hematology and Oncology at the Salt Lake City VA Hospital. He is a member and/or served on various committees for of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and the American Association for Cancer Research, the College of American Pathologists, and the American Joint Committee on Cancer. Dr. Colman has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as numerous book chapters and abstracts.

Hunter Medical Research Institute, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Australia

Dr. Matt Dun is Professor of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Research at the University of Newcastle (UON) and Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator.

In addition, Dr. Dun is the Director of Brain Cancer Research - HMRI Precision Medicine Research Program, Paediatric Stream Leader - MHF Centre for Brain Cancer research, Executive of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC) DMG Therapeutic Advisory Committee (DMG-TGA) and member of the Australian New Zealand Childhood Haematology Oncology Group (ANZCHOG) CNS Tumour Committee.

Dr. Dun plays a significant role in the peer review process, particularly for federal (Australian, New Zealand, Dutch, Swiss, UK), State (Victoria, New South Wales) Governments, and National and International Foundations (The Kids Cancer Project, RUN DIPG, Charlie Teo, Yuvann Tiwari).

Throughout his career, Dr. Dun has been decorated by 35 national and international awards for his paediatric cancer research. Notably, in 2019, he was named the NSW Premier’s Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow, and in 2020 received an Australian Institute of Policy and Science Young Tall Poppy Award. In 2022 he received an International DIPG ‘Big Hero’ Award (Washington D. C.) and was named as the University of Newcastle, College of Health, Medicine, and Wellbeing, Mid-Career Researcher of the year. In 2023, Matt was named the Lake Macquarie Ambassador (Citizen of the Year), awarded the ChadTough Defeat DIPG ‘Spirit Award’ (Michigan), the PNOC ‘Basic Science Trailblazer’ award (San Francisco), the International DIPG Symposium 2023 ‘Innovator Award’ (Lexington) and finally named the HMRI Directors ‘Midcareer-Researcher of the Year’.

Dr. Maryam Fouladi is a pediatric neuro-oncologist, co-executive director of the pediatric neuro-oncology program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, and a professor of pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Fouladi is an internationally recognized expert in pediatric brain tumors, and clinical trials. She chairs the CNS Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group and  is the founding chair of  the Collaborative Network for Neuro-Oncology Clinical Trials (CONNECT), an international clinical trials consortium whose mission is to discover and expand access to novel, promising therapies for high-risk pediatric brain tumors through global, multidisciplinary collaborations.

Frank Furnari, Ph.D., is Professor of Medicine within the Division of Regenerative Medicine at UC San Diego. After obtaining his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he studied cis-elements and trans-acting factors regulating expression of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) lytic replication genes, he joined the Ludwig Institute in San Diego as a postdoctoral fellow where he focused on the genetic alterations that drive the genesis of glioblastomas, notably the commonly amplified and truncated epidermal growth factor receptor gene (known as EGFRvIII) and mutation of the PTEN gene. During his postdoctoral studies, he is credited with seminal work demonstrating that the ability of PTEN to suppress glioma cell growth is mediated through the enzyme’s lipid phosphatase activity. As head of the Laboratory of Tumor Biology, his current research is centered on understanding mechanisms underlying therapeutic resistance in glioma, functionality of tumor heterogeneity, and the evolution of adult and pediatric brain tumors through genetic engineering of human pluripotent stem cell-derived avatar models.

Dr Monika Hegi is a full professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. She obtained a Ph.D. in natural sciences from the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) and pursued post-doctoral training in molecular toxicology and molecular carcinogenesis at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), NIH, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA. Her research focus turned to molecular genetics of brain tumors when she joined the Institute of Neuropathology (USZ) in Zurich in 1993.  

Since 1998 she has directed the Laboratory of Brain Tumor Biology and Genetics affiliated with the Department of Neurosurgery at the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV). Taking advantage of the clinical setting, her research focus is at the interface of basic and clinical cancer research. Her research is aimed at identifying new molecular targets and predictive factors for response to therapy and outcome in brain tumor patients by combining multidimensional molecular analyses of tumors and experimental approaches. Dr. Hegi has a special interest in cancer epigenomics and her lab explores strategies for respective combination therapies. These efforts are in close collaboration with international cooperative groups, in particular the Brain Tumor Group at the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).

Dr. Horbinski hails from Buffalo, NY, where he completed his combined M.D., Ph.D. training at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He then did an Anatomic Pathology residency and a Neuropathology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. As a full tenured professor at Northwestern University, Dr. Horbinski directs the Neuropathology Division, the Nervous System Tumor Bank, and the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Pathology Core Facility.

Dr. Horbinski’s clinical specialty is molecular diagnostics of brain tumors. To date, Dr. Horbinski has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has obtained extramural research support as a principal investigator from multiple sources, including the NIH. The NCI-funded brain tumor bank has supported over 100 intramural and extramural research projects. He has delivered over 110 invited talks and platform presentations on brain tumors at a variety of national and international settings. Dr. Horbinski is an Associate Editor of Neuro Oncology and Neuro Oncology Advances and is on the editorial board of the top four neuropathology journals (Acta Neuropathologica, Brain Pathology, Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology).

Dr. Annie Huang graduated with a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and an M.D. from the University of Toronto and obtained training in pediatric oncology at The Hospital for Sick Children. She is a senior neuro-oncologist at The Hospital for Sick Children, with a laboratory research program focused on the molecular pathogenesis of rare childhood brain tumors. She holds appointments as a full professor in the Graduate Department of Paediatrics, Lab Medicine and Pathobiology and Medical Biophysics at The University of Toronto. She holds positions as Senior Scientist in Cell Biology and Principal Investigator at the Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Dr. Huang’s research interest has been focused on understanding the molecular spectrum of rare childhood brain tumors including ATRTs and PNETs/embryonal brain tumors, with the goal of defining disease mechanisms and improving diagnosis and therapeutics for rare diseases. She initiated and leads an international Rare Paediatric Brain Tumour Consortium in which more than 70 international centers contribute to a central tissue and clinical data repository. The creation of this repository has enabled her group and others to conduct sentinel genomic studies leading to discovery of new rare brain tumor entities as well as molecular classes of ATRTs, which has helped advance detection and diagnosis, and to development of new therapeutic approaches to these rare, often fatal diseases of childhood. She has authored 100 articles, including many in high-impact scientific journals, and multiple book chapters focused on pediatric brain tumors. In addition to her own research, Dr. Huang is helping to advance biological and translational studies of rare pediatric brain tumors through her involvement in the Children’s Oncology Group CNS disease committee and other childhood brain tumor trial consortia.

Dr Mustafa Khasraw is a medical oncologist and neuro-oncologist, serving as a Professor of Medicine, Neuro-Oncology, Integrative Immunobiology, Pharmacology, and Cancer Biology at Duke University. He is the Deputy Director of the Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and leads the Tumor Immunology Laboratory at Duke, where his work focuses on translating laboratory discoveries into clinical applications. His research emphasizes developing novel therapies through clinical trials and uncovering mechanisms of resistance to enhance patient outcomes.
His research extends across a range of clinical and translational programs that integrate fundamental biological insights with therapeutic advancements. As principal investigator for multiple first-in-human Phase I and Phase II clinical trials targeting solid tumors, he plays a key role in advancing new treatments from bench to bedside and back to the bench.
Dr. Khasraw plays an active role within the Society of Neuro-Oncology (SNO), contributing to various committees and he is advancing the field through advisory and grant review roles for numerous non-profits and patient advocacy organizations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, an Elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and holds the title of Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Dr. Justin Lathia leads a translational cancer stem cell research laboratory and is Vice Chair and Professor in the Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences at the Lerner Research Institute (LRI), part of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH; he also serves as the Director of Faculty Development for the LRI. Dr. Lathia is the Scientific Director of the Rose Ella Burkhardt Brain Tumor & Neuro-Oncology Center at the Cleveland Clinic and the Melvin Burkhardt Endowed Chair in Neuro-Oncology Research.  He is also the Reza Khatib MD Professor, Leader of the Brain Tumor Initiative, and Co-Leader of the Molecular Oncology Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Lathia received a B.S. and M.S. from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. He completed his Ph.D. in 2008 as part of the NIH-Cambridge Graduate Partnership Program.  His work focused on the role of cell adhesion molecules during the development of the nervous system.  He then completed post-doctoral fellowships at Duke Universtiy and the Cleveland Clinic where he focused on the role of cell adhesion in regulating cancer stem cells in brain tumors. In 2012, Dr. Lathia moved to the Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences as an independent investigator, and the work in his lab focuses on how the stem cell state is regulated in advanced cancers. Projects in the Lathia laboratory involve understanding how cancer stem cells interact with their surrounding microenvironment as well as one another, with the goal of identifying unique pathways for therapeutic development. A more recent focus is on sex differences in glioblastoma. Work in the Lathia laboratory has resulted in a Phase I clinical trial aimed at targeting myeloid-derived suppressor cells that interact with cancer stem cells to suppress the immune system in glioblastoma.

Dr. Minesh Mehta is a nationally recognized radiation oncologist with specific expertise in managing patients with brain tumors and thoracic malignancies.  He has over a thousand publications and serves/has served on numerous national and international academic oncology committees and clinical trial leadership organizations. He has an extensive history of research funding and is recognized as an innovator/inventor of radiation oncology technologies, methods, and combinatorial treatment approaches.  He has held tenured positions at major academic institutions (University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, University of Maryland) for over 3 decades and is currently Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology, Florida International University, Deputy Director of Miami Cancer Institute, and Chief of Radiation Oncology, Baptist Health South Florida.

As Professor at the Department of Neurosurgery, Kyorin University Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Nagane has been leading research on the development of novel therapeutic regimens for patients with malignant brain tumors. As Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on several Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)-funded grants, Professor Nagane has participated in most major multi-institutional, investigator-initiated clinical trials and sponsored initiated registration trials in Japan. Notably, he has played a role as member of the Steering Committee of Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) Brain Tumor Study Group (BTSG) since its establishment in 2003, and as the PI, he has run a randomized phase III JCOG-BTSG cooperative trial for recurrent and progressive glioblastoma, comparing sequential dose-dense temozolomide followed by bevacizumab at progression versus bevacizumab, under Advanced Medical System since 2016.

Professor Nagane has a demonstrated record of accomplished and productive research projects in an area of high relevance for malignant brain tumors. He has published a number of scientific papers and review articles that explore molecular genetics and biology in human gliomas and PCNSL; he is currently focusing on investigating the molecular microenvironment of PCNSL and is preparing a new JCOG trial for newly diagnosed PCNSL as PI.

Dr. Okada is a Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Trained as a physician-scientist, Dr. Okada has been dedicated to understanding the immune mechanisms in brain tumors and developing novel immunotherapy strategies for brain tumor patients for over 25 years. His team was the first to discover cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes in glioma-associated antigens. Dr. Okada also found critical roles for the integrin receptor very late activation antigen (VLA)-4 and the chemokine CXCL10 in facilitating the entry of CTLs to the brain tumor site. Dr. Okada has translated these discoveries and developed a total of 8 investigational new drug (IND) applications that the FDA approved for early-phase clinical trials, including genetically engineered glioma vaccines and T cell receptor (TCR)- or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-transduced T cell therapy in both adult and pediatric patients. One of his vaccine studies evaluating the H3.3K27M mutation-derived neoantigen (NCT02960230) is open at 14 international sites. In addition, Dr. Okada has developed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)vIII that has been evaluated in patients with EGFRvIII+ glioblastoma. Recently, he developed a novel synNotch-primed CAR system with Dr. Wendell Lim to overcome the antigen-heterogeneity, off-tumor toxicity, and T-cell exhaustion issues. Dr. Okada’s team has also pioneered discoveries of novel immunoregulatory mechanisms in gliomas, such as one mediated by myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and mutations of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)1 and IDH2.

As a thought leader, to improve radiologic evaluation criteria for patients undergoing immunotherapy, Dr. Okada led an international group of brain tumor immunotherapy experts to develop novel iRANO criteria. Dr. Okada is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2010-present), an honored society for physicians who promote laboratory science to the clinic.

Dr. Quinn Ostrom is an Assistant Professor in Neurosurgery and an Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences based at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. She obtained her MPH and Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and is a member of the Duke Cancer Institute.

Dr. Ostrom is a cancer epidemiologist with specialized training in genetic epidemiology. The overall goal of her research program is to identify genetic factors that increase the risk of developing a brain tumor as well as those that affect prognosis after diagnosis. Her research focuses on: 1) using population-level cancer registry data for surveillance and risk factor discovery; 2) discovering sources of germline genetic risk for brain tumors and 3) understanding the relationship between immune traits and brain tumor risk and survival. Dr. Ostrom approaches these questions through a research program of interrelated projects and application of novel analytic techniques.

Michael Platten is Professor of Neurology and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Mannheim, Germany, Head of the Department of Neuroimmunology, and Brain Tumor Immunology Coordinator of the research topic Immunology and Cancer at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. He is Vice Chair of the German Neuro-oncology Working Group (NOA) and serves on the Management Board of the Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology (HiTRON) and the Scientific Committee of the European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO).

Dr. Platten received his MD from the University of Bonn, Germany, and his postdoctoral training at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and Stanford University. He and his team discovered novel pathways involved in immune regulation in gliomas and pioneered the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the immunotherapy of gliomas and other types of cancer, and they are currently conducting early multicenter trials testing these strategies. His main scientific focus includes glioma immunogenicity, immune suppression, heterogeneity, and personalized treatment strategies.

Dr. Whitney Pope is Professor of Neuroradiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is the director of Brain Tumor Imaging, has co-chaired the Imaging Genomics Study Session at the Society for Neuroradiology for many years, and previously was on the Board of Directors for the Society of Neuro-Oncology. He has been on the faculty at UCLA for nearly 20 years.

Dr. Pope’s academic work focuses on imaging of glioblastoma and understanding the relationship between the molecular characteristics of this disease, tumor physiology, and imaging features in order to improve models of natural history and therapy selection as well as to provide earlier markers of treatment response. This work has used data from gene arrays, cell cultures, animal models, large case series, and multicenter international clinical trials. Dr. Pope has further examined the added value of amino acid PET in addition to MRI in improving estimates of tumor burden. His lab has characterized the imaging phenotype of IDH mutant gliomas and has helped pioneer the detection of the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate in IDH mutant tumors using MR spectroscopy.

Dr. Pope received his medical degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University; he then completed a radiology residency followed by a neuroradiology fellowship at UCLA before joining the faculty in 2004.

Dr. David Schiff is Professor of Neurology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. After graduation from Harvard Medical School, he trained in neurology in the Harvard-Longwood Neurology Training Program. Following neuro-oncology fellowships at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic, he established his career as a clinical neuro-oncologist with a focus on clinical trials. Areas of particular interest include lower-grade gliomas and glioblastoma, brain metastases, CNS lymphoma, venous thromboembolism in brain tumor patients, and the neurological complications of cancer and its therapies.

William A. Weiss MD, PhD is Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Neurosurgery at UCSF, co-director of Clinical Child Neurology at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and Co-Leader of the Pediatrics Malignancies Program at UCSF’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Dr. Weiss is an external advisor to Brain Tumor Programs at Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and  at Children’s National Hospital. Dr. Weiss’ lab has developed genetically engineered and human pluripotent stem cell-based mouse models for glioma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma; establishing these as platforms for biology, genetics, and preclinical trials, in conjunction with analyses of primary human tumors. The lab has a long-standing interest in developmental therapeutics, focused on EGFR, PI3K, and mTOR biology; chemical genetic approaches to kinase function, and on targeting Myc.

Dr. Iyad Alnahhas is the producer and co-host of Neuro-Oncology: The Podcast.

Iyad received his medical degree at Damascus University, Syria, followed by a master’s in clinical research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He then completed his neurology residency at Virginia Commonwealth University and neuro-oncology fellowship at the Ohio State University. He’s an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University. Iyad’s research is focused on glioma genomics and bioinformatics. His other passions include coding, podcasting, biking and theater.

Dr. Ankush Bhatia is a neuro-oncologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine. He helps lead the brain tumor program at the Carbone Cancer Center. Ankush earned his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. He then completed a combined master’s in anatomy and cell biology and doctor of medicine at Rush Medical College at Rush University in Chicago. He remained at Rush University Medical Center to complete his neurology residency and then completed his fellowship in neuro-oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. Following his fellowship, he served as faculty at MSKCC before settling in Madison, Wisconsin. His clinical research is focused on improving biomarkers of disease progression in neuro-oncological diseases using advanced neuroimaging, patient-centered outcomes, and molecular genetics. He is also studying novel radioligands in the diagnosis and treatment of gliomas.

Dr. John Fortunato is a second-year neuro oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He completed medical school at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine and neurology residency at the University of Chicago. Before his medical training, he completed a master's degree in bioethics at Case Western Reserve University. His academic interests include clinical ethics in neuro oncology. He will be starting his career as a neuro oncologist at the University of Michigan in the summer of 2024. 

Dr. Maya Graham is an Assistant Attending Neurologist on the Brain Tumor Service in the Department of Neurology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). She is a physician scientist building a career in basic/translational research focused on the role of plasticity and chromatin remodeling in malignant glioma initiation, maintenance and treatment resistance. She received her MD and PhD at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in her native Chicago, IL, moved to Boston to complete her neurology residency at the Mass General Brigham program, and finally came to MSK for her neuro-oncology fellowship. Outside of the hospital and the lab, she enjoys spending time with her husband and toddler son, drinking craft beer, singing and traveling.

Dr. Jasmin Jo is a neuro-oncologist and the director of the neuro-oncology program at East Carolina University. Dr. Jo finished two neurology residencies at the University of Virginia and at University of the East in the Philippines. She then went on to complete a three-year neuro-oncology fellowship training at the University of Virginia and at the Mass General Brigham program. Her research interests are focused on lower grade glioma and complications of cancer, including venous thromboembolism. She loves being a dog mom to a senior rat terrier and a rescue pup. She and her husband enjoy cycling, boating and hiking with their dogs.

Dr. Rachna Malani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah and an Investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She is a neuro-oncologist with a subspecialty interest in central nervous system metastasis. Dr. Malani received her medical degree from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. She then did her neurology residency at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn followed by a neuro-oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. Once she completed her fellowship she became an Attending physician in Neuro-Oncology at MSKCC where she practiced for several years before joining the University of Utah/Huntsman Cancer Institute. She enjoys spending her time reading, stand up paddle boarding and podcasting!

Dr. Evan Noch is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and the Director of Physician-Scientist Development in the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.  Evan earned his MD and PhD degrees from Temple University before completing his residency in Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine and fellowship in Neuro-oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  In the lab, Evan studies glioblastoma metabolism, with a focus on synergistic drug and dietary therapies targeting glucose utilization and redox pathways.  His recently published work showed that insulin feedback is a targetable mechanism of resistance to PI3K inhibition in glioblastoma.  In separate work, he demonstrated that cysteine induces mitochondrial toxicity in glioma cells and in orthotopic glioblastoma mouse models. Evan serves on the Board of Directors of the American Physician Scientists Association, the leading organization advocating for physician-scientist trainees, and is the co-founder and CEO of Destroke, which is developing mobile platforms for clinical stroke education by patients and their loved ones.