IVY BRAIN TUMOR CENTER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Administrative Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Business Operations Analyst
Job Titles:
- Data Management Specialist
Dr. Tovmasyan is a co-developer of an early generation SOD mimic, BMX-001, which is now in four Phase I/II Clinical Trials (NCT03386500, NCT03608020, NCT02990468, and NCT02655601; supported by STTR/NIH) as a radio-protector of normal tissues with glioma, head and neck, and anal cancer patients. Over the last two years he has further designed a new class of fluorinated metalloporphyrins of 4th generation with outstanding safety/toxicity profile and catalytic potency. The compounds are currently being tested in prostate cancer to reduce the radiation-induced normal tissue damage.
Job Titles:
- Scientific Advisory Board Member
Job Titles:
- Pharmacodynamics Core Leader
Dr. An-Chi Tien received his PhD from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, before completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the Rowitch Laboratory at the University of California at San Francisco. He is a member of the American Brain Tumor Association Alumni Research Network, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society for Neuro-Oncology.
Dr. Tien is the recipient of several awards and accolades, including a 2022 American Brain Tumor Association Discovery Grant, a postdoctoral fellowship in 2012-2014 from the American Brain Tumor Association and an Early-Career Investigator Travel Award, Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, Development and Cancer.
Dr. Tien's research focuses on developing and optimizing pharmacodynamic tests to better understand tumor resistance mechanisms and support clinical trials for brain tumor patients. His current academic and scientific interests focus on cancer-related signaling pathways regulating gliomagenesis and glioma progression.
As a Principal Investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center and the leader of the Pharmacodynamic Core, Dr. Tien has been involved in numerous early-phase clinical trials and has innovated in the space of Phase 0 clinical trials design. His PhD and subsequent scientific training is focused on overlapping mechanisms governing CNS development as well as its deregulation in glioblastoma formation.
Dr. Andrew Little specializes in the treatment of pituitary tumors and other brain tumors and conditions (e.g., trigeminal neuralgia, colloid cysts, and Chiari malformation). He is the Director of the Barrow Pituitary Center and leads the Barrow Interdisciplinary Skull Base Program. Dr. Little performs more minimally invasive endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery than any other surgeon in the Southwest.
Dr. Little graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a degree in biochemistry and biophysics. He earned his medical degree from the University of California - Irvine and completed his neurosurgical residency at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Dr. Little trained as a fellow under the guidance of Charles Teo, MD, in Sydney, Australia (minimally invasive surgery and neuroendoscopy).
Dr. Little directs an active clinical research program focused on improving care for patients with pituitary and related tumors. He has lectured to other surgeons both nationally and internationally. He has published numerous peer-reviewed medical studies and is editor of a textbook entitled Controversies in Skull Base Surgery to be published in spring 2019. His research has been awarded the AANS/CNS Joint Tumor Section Skull Base Surgery Award and the AANS Integra Foundation Award.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Division of Neuro - Radiation Oncology
- Neuro - Radiation Oncologist
Dr. Igor Barani is the Director of the Division of Neuro-Radiation Oncology at the Barrow Neurological Institute. He is board certified in radiation oncology by the American Board of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Barani's expertise includes the treatment of primary and metastatic brain and spine tumors, as well as the applications of radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, and brachytherapy. He is a member of the American Board of Radiology, American Society for Radiation Oncology, Radiological Society of North America, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Society for Neuro-Oncology.
Dr. Barani earned his medical degree from State University of New York Upstate Medical University. He completed his residency in radiation oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and a research fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Barani's current research studies explore various applications of big data analytics and artificial intelligence with the aim of improving outcomes for brain tumor patients and making clinical workflows more efficient. As a co-investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Barani is a key member of our Phase 0 clinical trials team and an experienced early-phase clinical trialist in neuro-oncology.
Job Titles:
- Neuropathologist / CLIA Lab Director
- Pathologist at the Barrow Neurological Institute
Dr. Jennifer Eschbacher is a neuropathologist and surgical pathologist at the Barrow Neurological Institute. She is board certified in neuropathology by the American Board of Pathology. As a co-investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Eschbacher is a key member of our Phase 0 clinical trials team and is particularly engaged in our pharmacodynamics assessments of new drug effects.
Dr. Kris Smith is an experienced neurosurgeon who has treated brain and spinal tumors for decades. As a neurosurgical oncologist and investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Smith aims to balance minimally-invasive techniques with surgical interventions to optimize patient outcomes.
Dr. Smith received his medical doctorate from the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Reno, Nevada, and completed his neurosurgery residency at Barrow Neurological Institute. Dr. Smith completed additional training in Gamma Knife radiosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh and at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He completed a clinical fellowship in epilepsy surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
As a longstanding brain tumor and epilepsy neurosurgeon, Dr. Smith has authored many peer-reviewed research studies and has held several leadership positions in professional societies such as the Arizona Neurosurgical Society and the Rocky Mountain Neurosurgical Society.
Dr. Smith has a unique understanding of the challenges his patients and their families face. When he was well into his career as a brain tumor surgeon, his father was diagnosed with a glioblastoma. After years of standard and experimental therapies, he unfortunately passed away. The experience enabled Dr. Smith to understand completely what his patients and their families endure.
Dr. Michael Lawton received a degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He completed his neurosurgery residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also completed a clinical fellowship in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery. After joining the faculty at the University of California at San Francisco, he later completed a fellowship in endovascular surgery there. To date, Dr. Lawton has published over 450 peer-reviewed articles, three single-author textbooks, and over 70 book chapters. Dr. Lawton is the President and CEO of Barrow Neurological Institute and the Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery. As a neurosurgical oncologist and co-investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Lawton's clinical areas of surgical expertise include brain and spinal tumors.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Chief Scientific Officer / Director Neurosurgical Oncologist
- Principal Architect of the Ivy Center
Dr. Nader Sanai is an internationally-recognized neurosurgical oncologist with clinical and research expertise in the treatment of all brain tumors. As a practicing neurosurgeon, his specialty clinical practice is devoted entirely to patients with tumors of the brain and spine, including those in high-risk areas. He also has extensive experience using intraoperative mapping techniques to maximize tumor removal while preserving crucial structures controlling motor and language function. Gliomas, meningiomas, metastatic tumors, and complex tumors of the skull base are just some of the tumor types he routinely treats using both operative and radiosurgery techniques. As the Southwest's busiest neurosurgical oncologist, with over 3000 brain tumor surgeries performed since 2010, Dr. Sanai has one of the largest experiences in the world. Among various career accolades, Dr. Sanai was recently elected to the American Academy of Neurological Surgeons, the most respected academic organization in neurosurgery.
To date, Dr. Sanai has published over 200 peer-reviewed research manuscripts and delivered over 200 national and international lectures on brain tumor research. Collectively, Dr. Sanai's published research has led to over 15,000 total citations and an H-index of 45 - one of the highest for an academic neurosurgeon in the United States. As the Director of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Sanai oversees all translational brain tumor research at the Barrow Neurological Institute, located within the Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. At the Ivy Center, Dr. Sanai serves as the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Stem Cell Neuro-Oncology, which is funded by over a dozen external granting agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Sanai is one of only a handful of neurosurgeons in the United States to have served as principal investigator of multiple NIH R01 grants.
Dr. Sanai is the principal architect of the Ivy Center's highly-innovative and world-renowned Phase 0 clinical trials program. Together with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, clinicians, and nurses, Dr. Sanai specializes in identifying new, first-in-class therapeutic agents that match the individual biologies of brain tumor patients. The Ivy Center's precision medicine program is the first of its kind in neuro-oncology and reflects Dr. Sanai's commitment to pushing the envelope for brain tumor patients around the world.
Dr. Randall Porter received his medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois and completed his neurosurgery residency was at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. As a neurosurgical oncologist and co-investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Porter's clinical areas of surgical and radiosurgical expertise include brain and spinal tumors.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director
- Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Director, Pre - Clinical Core Leader
Dr. Shwetal Mehta received her Master's Degree from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India, in Molecular Biology. She then earned her PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology from The University of Texas at Austin in 2003. She completed her postdoctoral work in the Stiles Laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Her postdoctoral work was focused on the identification of a potential therapeutic target for high-grade gliomas.
As Deputy Director of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, Dr. Mehta is a recognized leader in translational science for brain tumors and has helped develop an array of early-phase pharmacodynamic- and pharmacokinetic-driven studies for patients with malignant brain tumors. As a Principal Investigator within the Ivy Center, her expertise in molecular biology and the signaling pathways driving glioma biology is essential to our Phase 0 clinical trials program.
Job Titles:
- Neuro - Radiation Oncologist
As a rising star in radiation oncology, Dr. William Kennedy is singularly focused on successfully treating patients' brain, spine, and head and neck tumors and preserving their quality of life.
Job Titles:
- Metabolism Core Leader Neurosurgeon
Dr. Zaman Mirzadeh earned his doctorate and medical degrees from the University of California at San Francisco. He completed his residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, and fellowships in functional neurosurgery at the Toronto Western Hospital in Toronto, Ontario and Baylor College of Medicine/MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Mirzadeh's research interests include stem cell biology and metabolic modulation. His laboratory focuses on understanding the relationship between endogenous CNS progenitor elements and human pathologies. As a Principal Investigator within the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, his expertise in cellular biology and stem cell biology are key drivers of our Phase 0 clinical trials program.
Job Titles:
- Scientific Advisory Board Member
Job Titles:
- Communications Specialist
Job Titles:
- Clinical Operations Director
- Director of Clinical Operations
Jocelyn Harmon is the director of clinical operations for the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, the largest Phase 0 clinical trials program in the world for brain cancer. She has been working in the research industry field for 17 years in a variety of roles at sites, CROs and Biotech. She has a BS in Biology and an MS in Clinical Translational Science at the University of Arizona. She specializes in trial management and oversight for Sponsor-Investigator studies.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Neuro - Oncologist Co - Investigator
Job Titles:
- Director, Marketing and Communications
Job Titles:
- Scientific Advisory Board Member
Patricia LoRusso, D.O., is the Associate Director of Innovative Medicine at Yale Cancer Center. As a medical oncologist, Dr. LoRusso has been performing clinical and translational research in early-phase clinical trials for over 30 years, with the first 25 years at Karmanos Cancer Institute and, since 2014, at Yale.
Dr. LoRusso has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and has chaired its Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) Investigational Drug Steering Committee, the scientific committee of the American Association for Cancer Research, the education and scientific committees of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and many peer-reviewed study sections and NCI committees.
Dr. LoRusso is a former editor of Investigational New Drugs and is currently on the editorial board for Clinical Cancer Research. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles in cancer research and is internationally recognized as an expert in Phase 0 and PK/PD-driven trial design for oncology.
Dr. LoRusso earned a Michigan State University (MSU) Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014 and received, in 2015, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from MSU. In 2022, she was awarded the Joseph H. Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research from the American Association for Cancer Research.
Dr. LoRusso received her D.O. from Michigan State University. She completed a fellowship at Wayne State University and her residency at Riverside Osteopathic Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Senior VP of Finance and Operations
Job Titles:
- Chief Administrative Officer
Job Titles:
- Professor and Associate Director of Computational Biology
- Scientific Advisory Board Member
Roel Verhaak, Ph.D., is Professor and Associate Director of Computational Biology and the Florine Deschenes Roux Chair for Genomics and Computational Biology at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine.
Dr. Verhaak's research focuses on brain tumors, primarily leveraging computational analysis of datasets of unprecedented size and complexity. He was involved with, and a co-leader of, the glioma projects of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) while at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and the faculty of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This work has helped elevate our understanding of this lethal type of brain tumor. He was among the first to recognize the frequency and potential of extrachromosomal DNA amplifications in cancer. He is also a founding member of the Glioma Longitudinal AnalySiS (GLASS) consortium, which was created to accelerate efforts to understand glioma tumor evolution and expose therapeutic vulnerabilities. Dr. Verhaak is a scientific co-founder of Boundless Bio, a precision oncology biotechnology company interrogating extrachromosomal DNA in cancer biology.
Dr. Verhaak is a recipient of the AAAS Wachtel Award, the Agilent Early Career Professor Award, and the Peter Steck Memorial Award.
Dr. Verhaak holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from Erasmus University Medical Center, the Netherlands. Prior to completing his Ph.D., Dr. Verhaak earned his M.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Job Titles:
- Speech Language Pathologist
Job Titles:
- Regulatory Project Manager
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Professor
- Scientific Advisory Board Member
Susan Chang, M.D., is Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and holds the Lai Wan Kan Endowed Chair. She is an investigator in the Brain Tumor Center and is co-leader of the Neuro-Oncology Program at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Chang is an internationally recognized leader in the field of neurological malignancies. She specializes in the treatment of adults with brain tumors, including glioblastomas and meningiomas. Dr. Chang's major research focus is on the development of novel therapies for brain tumor patients in addition to the assessment of novel imaging markers of prognosis and treatment response. She is the co-principal investigator of a UCSF SPORE project evaluating the role of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in diagnosing tumors and evaluating therapeutic interventions. She is also the principal investigator for a program project grant (P01) focusing on noninvasive markers of molecular subtypes of glioma. She is a member of the executive committee for the Response Assessment in NeuroOncology (RANO) group and has served in many leadership roles in the Society for NeuroOncology including President. In 2022, Dr. Chang was appointed as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Neuro-Oncology.
Dr. Chang is especially dedicated to improving the experience of her patients and their families, with a particular focus on increasing their quality of life. She is the medical director of the UCSF Neuro-Oncology Gordon Murray Caregiver Program, developed to address the needs of family members and others who care for patients with brain tumors. She is also the co-director of the Sheri Sobrato Brisson Brain Cancer Survivorship Program focused on comprehensive survivorship care for brain tumor patients.
Dr. Chang received her medical degree from the University of British Columbia and completed a residency in internal medicine at Plains Health Centre and Toronto General Hospital. She completed a fellowship in medical oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, as well as a fellowship in neuro-oncology at UCSF, subsequently joining as faculty.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Biostatistics
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer
- Chief Medical Officer / Chief of Neuro - Oncology
Yoshie Umemura, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center and Division Chief of Neuro-Oncology and the William and Joan Shapiro Chair of Neuro-Oncology at Barrow Neurological Institute.
As a leading neuro-oncologist, Dr. Umemura is dedicated to personalized medicine that advances the care of patients with brain tumors. Her research interests explore experimental therapies for brain cancer patients using the Ivy Center's cutting-edge clinical trials program. Dr. Umemura works diligently to translate those findings directly into patient care.
In the clinic, Dr. Umemura sees patients with brain tumors, cancers of the central nervous system and neurological complications of cancer. Dr. Umemura comes to the Ivy Center from Michigan Medicine, where she served as the Director of Neuro-Oncology.
Dr. Umemura is the author and co-author of numerous peer-reviewed journal publications and textbook chapters. She has also delivered many national and international lectures at leading neuro-oncology and neuroscience conferences. She is board certified in neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, as well as neuro-oncology by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialities.
Dr. Umemura completed her clinical fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She earned her medical degree from St. George's University, a master's degree in clinical research design and statistical analysis from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside.
Yoshie Umemura, MD, was recently appointed as Chief Medical Officer of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center and Chief of Neuro-Oncology and the William and Joan Shapiro Chair of Neuro-Oncology at Barrow Neurological Institute. Dr. Umemura plans to build on the Ivy Center's clinical trials program and translate those findings directly into patient care.