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READ MOREPublished on October 25, 2023 in Press Release
Today, the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) announced that Manmeet Ahluwalia, MD, MBA, FASCO, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief of Medical Oncology, Deputy Director, and Fernandez Family Endowed Chair at Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, is joining its DNA Damage Response Consortium as Clinical Advisor. The consortium –– which comprises expert teams from Yale Cancer Center; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Mayo Clinic; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; New York University Grossman School of Medicine (NYU); the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and the University of Minnesota –– aims to rapidly advance a new class of promising potential treatments that can target a brain tumor’s DNA damage response (DDR) network.
“Dr. Ahluwalia is a recognized leader in brain tumor research and widely-regarded as a leading clinical trialist,” said Kirk Tanner, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of the National Brain Tumor Society. “He has a track record of leading efforts to translate laboratory research into clinical studies for patients with both primary and metastatic brain tumors. His expertise in these areas will aid our consortium as we aim to overcome the most important challenges that have thwarted countless previous attempts to develop transformative treatments for brain cancer, including getting drugs across the blood brain barrier, stopping cancer’s ability to repair and grow, seeking combination treatment early on, and launching better clinical trials.”
In his role as Clinical Advisor, Dr. Ahluwalia will partner with various members of the DDR-C to support the consortium’s efforts to rapidly translate laboratory findings into an early-phase clinical trials platform that matches the right treatments with the right patients and learns quickly from each patient.
Dr. Ahluwalia currently leads cancer research efforts as the Fernandez Family Foundation endowed chair in Cancer Research and the Guardian Research Network Scientific Advisory Council chairperson for Miami Cancer Center. He also cares for patients with brain tumors in the clinic, leveraging standard-of-care treatments, as well as clinical trials. He has helped develop a world-class clinical trials program for brain tumors involving immunotherapy and precision medicine-based approaches to target genetic alterations that drive tumor growth.
NBTS and Yale Cancer Center initially launched the consortium in early 2022. The effort is bolstered by a partnership with IQVIA, a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services.
Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Scientific Director of the Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center serves as the consortium’s co-principal investigator. Dr. Bindra is joined in this role by Dr. Nathalie Agar, Founding Director of the Surgical Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Daniel E. Ponton Distinguished Chair in the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Radiology at Harvard Medical School.
About the National Brain Tumor Society
Building on over 30 years of experience, the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) unrelentingly invests in, mobilizes, and unites the brain tumor community to discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and caregivers. Our focus on defeating brain tumors and improving the quality of patients’ lives is powered by our partnerships across science, health care, policy, and business sectors. We fund treatments-focused research and convene those most critical to curing brain tumors once and for all. Join us at BrainTumor.org.
TAGGED WITH: brain cancer, brain tumor, glioma, DNA Damage Response