Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts died late Tuesday night from a malignant brain tumor. If you are planning to cover this story, please consider calling on experts from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Johns Hopkins’ Brain Tumor Center is one of the largest brain tumor treatment and research centers in the world. With specialists ranging from neurosurgeons, oncologists, and laboratory researchers currently developing new cutting edge treatments, Johns Hopkins can provide you with unique sources who can answer your timely questions about brain tumors.

Henry Brem, M.D.

Dr. Brem is a professor of neurosurgery, oncology, and ophthalmology, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He focuses his clinical practice on the surgical treatment of pituitary tumors, meningiomas, gliomas, acoustic neuromas, skull base tumors and other solid brain tumors. He has developed new clinical treatments for brain tumors, including the delivery of chemotherapy directly to the brain through the Gliadel wafer, anti-angiogenesis therapies, computer navigation systems used during surgery and brain tumor vaccines.

Dr. Brem graduated from Harvard Medical School with honors and trained in neurosurgery at Columbia University. He did a fellowship in neurosurgery and ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins and t hen joined the faculty in 1984. He rapidly rose to the rank of full professor and helped build one of the leading Brain Tumor Centers in the United States. He also directs the Hunterian Research Laboratory, which has introduced new therapies for brain tumors.

Alessando Olivi, M.D.

Dr. Alessandro Olivi is a Professor of neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He focuses on the surgical treatment of primary and metastatic tumors of the brain and spinal cord. He performs microsurgery on skull-based tumors, such as acoustic neuromas, meningiomas and vascular lesions. Additional clinical interests include cerebrovascular conditions and craniofacial reconstructions.

Dr. Olivi is actively involved in designing and running clinical experimental protocols to develop and assess new treatments for patients with brain tumors. He is also leading multidisciplinary initiatives to coordinate the most suitable management of patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent brain tumors. He is also involved in several research activities in the areas of immunotherapy for brain tumors, cancer stem cells and new drug delivery systems.

Dr. Olivi received his medical degree from the University of Padova Medical School in Italy. He went on to complete a fellowship in neurosurgery at the University of Padova. His internship training in general surgery was completed at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. Dr. Olivi also completed his residency in neurosurgery at Mayfield Neurological Institute at the University of Cincinnati and fellowship training in neurological surgery and neuro-oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Jon Weingart, M.D.

Dr. Weingart is an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He focuses on the treatment of adults and children, and his specialties include surgical treatment of brain tumors including benign and malignant tumors. Dr. Weingart is actively involved in the development of novel treatments for brain tumors and is the principal investigator on several investigational trials. Dr. Weingart also specializes in spinal disorders, such as cervical and lumbar disc disease, as well as other congenital and developmental abnormalities such as tethered spinal cord, spina bifida and chiari malformation.

Dr. Weingart received his medical degree from Duke University. He then completed his internship in general surgery and residency in neurological surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He completed a neurosurgical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins during his training.

Jaishri Blakeley, M.D.

Dr. Jaishri Blakeley is an assistant professor of neurology, oncology and neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She focuses her clinical efforts on the diagnosis and management of primary brain tumors in adults such as glioblastoma multiforme, anaplastic astrocytoma, anaplastic oligodendroglioma and low grade gliomas. She is also co-director of The Johns Hopkins Hospital Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center.

Dr. Blakeley’s research focus is in designing and conducting clinical trials to advance promising therapies for brain tumors. She is particularly focused on developing techniques to assess and maximize drug delivery to brain tumors. Dr. Blakeley is a member of the New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy (NABTT) consortium, a group of collaborating brain tumor centers funded by the National Cancer Institute devoted to discovering new brain tumor therapies.

Dr. Blakeley received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. She then completed a year of medical internship at Baylor prior to coming to the Johns Hopkins University for her residency in Neurology. She has recently completed two years of specialty training in Neuro-Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University.

Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, M.D.

Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa is an associate professor of neurosurgery and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the director of the brain tumor program at the The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He focuses on the surgical treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors, with an emphasis on motor and speech mapping during surgery. He is expert in treating intradural spinal tumors as well as brainstem and eloquent brain tumors in adults with the use of neurophysiological monitoring during surgery. He further specializes in the treatment of patients with pituitary tumors using a transphenoidal endonasal approach with surgical navigation and/or endoscopic techniques. He has a strong interest in treating patients with skull base tumors and the use of radiosurgery as an adjunct to the treatment of these lesions.

Dr. Quinones conducts numerous research efforts on elucidating the role of stem cells in the origin of brain tumors and the potential role stem cells can play in fighting brain cancer and regaining neurological function.

He received his medical degree from Harvard, where he graduated with honors. He then completed his residency in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental and stem cell biology.

Gary Gallia, M.D.

Gary L. Gallia is an assistant professor of neurosurgery and oncology and the director of Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He focuses on neurosurgical oncology. Dr. Gallia utilizes the latest techniques in preoperative imaging, computer guided surgical navigation, intraoperative monitoring and minimally invasive and neuroendoscopic approaches in the management of patients with benign and malignant brain tumors, metastatic tumors to the brain, skull base neoplasms and pituitary tumors.

Dr. Gallia’s primary research interests are in the development of novel therapeutics against malignant brain tumors and glioblastoma stem cells.

Dr. Gallia graduated summa cum laude from the Gibbons Scholar M.D./Ph.D. program at Jefferson Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University. He completed his general surgery internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital where he was awarded surgical intern of the year. He then completed his neurological surgery residency and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuro-oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Following residency, he completed a minimally invasive and endoscopic neurosurgery fellowship with Dr. Charles Teo at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital and Sydney Children’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Stuart (Skip) Grossman, M.D.

Dr. Grossman is professor of oncology, medicine, and neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His clinical activities focus on developing novel therapeutic strategies for patients with primary and metastatic brain tumors, leptomeningeal metastases, and cancer pain. During the past two years, he has chaired the NCCN guidelines panels for primary and metastatic brain tumors and cancer pain. He directs the Neuro-oncology Study Group at Johns Hopkins, serves as a member of ECOG’s Brain Tumor Committee, and is principal investigator for the ECOG/SWOG intergroup study for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme. In addition, he is principal investigator and director of the Operations Office of the NABTT CNS Consortium. This NIH-funded cooperative group is comprised of nine major brain tumor centers in the country and is designed to develop and test new therapies for primary brain tumors in adults.

Dr. Grossman’s work in the laboratory focuses on brain tumors and cancer pain. He and his colleagues have identified and described interactions between various chemotherapeutic agents and other drugs. They also are conducting key trials with anti-angiogenesis agents, differentiating agents, anti-sense oligonucleotides, gene therapy, radiation enhancers, and local chemotherapy and radiation. He and colleagues have developed and patented a new way to deliver opioids, using a systemically implanted polymer that could be useful to treat cancer pain or to substitute for methadone maintenance in patients with drug addiction. In addition, these investigators have developed computer-assisted instruction methods for patients and family members to improve the treatment of cancer pain. These clinical and laboratory efforts are designed to improve the care of patients and our basic understanding of these important neuro-oncologic problems.

Dr. Grossman received his medical degree from the University of Rochester Medical School. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital and joined Johns Hopkins as a clinical fellow in oncology.

Gregory Riggins, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Gregory Riggins is professor of neurosurgery and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He directs the Brain Cancer Biology and Therapy Research Laboratory. The main goal of his research is to locate and evaluate molecular targets for new brain tumor therapies. A major component of this research is the location of new small molecules. He works full time on brain tumor research and teaching, with no clinical duties.

Dr. Riggins is the inaugural recipient of the Irving J. Sherman, M.D. Research Professorship in Neurosurgery Research. He is author of more than 6O research publications. He has worked with the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project to coordinate a large cancer gene expression database, SAGE Genie.

Dr. Riggins received his medical and Ph.D. degrees from Emory University, where he graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program. He entered directly into a research fellowship in the Johns Hopkins Oncology Department.

Source:  Johns Hopkins Medicine