Scientific Advisory Council

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Scientific Advisory Council

Expertise That Drives Discovery

The ChadTough Defeat DIPG Scientific Advisory Council is composed of leading experts on childhood brain cancer. The council reviews grant applications and makes recommendations to ensure that the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation uses its resources to fund the most promising DIPG research projects.

Suzanne Baker, PhD, Chair

Suzanne Baker, PhD, Chair

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Dr. Suzanne Baker is the Director of the Division of Brain Tumor Research at St. Jude, the co-leader of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program, and the Associate Director of Basic Research for the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Suzanne Baker, PhD, Chair

Sameer Agnihotri, PhD.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Sameer Agnihotri, PhD, is a tenured associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Brain Tumor Biology and Therapy Laboratory at UPMC Children’s Hospital. He earned his PhD from the University of Toronto and focuses his research on high-grade pediatric and adult gliomas, including DIPG, with particular expertise in NF1-associated tumor biology and its role in brain tumor progression.

David Ashley, MBBS (Hon), FRACP, PhD

Duke University School of Medicine

Dr. David Ashley is the Director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, a Professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Medicine, and Pathology, and a member of the Duke Cancer Institute.

Oren J. Becher, MD

Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital

Dr. Oren Becher is the Chief of the Jack Martin Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, the Steven Ravitch Chair in Pediatric Hematology, and Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Timothy Chan, MD, PhD

Case Western Reserve University

Dr. Chan is a physician-scientist, staff, professor, and attending physician at the Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is Chair and Founding Director of the Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic.

Cynthia Hawkins, MD, PhD

Hospital for Sick Children

Dr. Cynthia Hawkins is a neuropathologist and scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, a principal investigator at the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre, and a Professor at the University of Toronto.

Chris Jones, PhD

Institute for Cancer Research in the UK

Professor Chris Jones heads the Glioma Team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. The team focuses on pediatric high grade and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma and are part of a major effort to build up the most detailed picture to date of the genome of these aggressive cancers.

Duane Mitchell, MD, PhD

University of Florida College of Medicine

Dr. Duane Mitchell is the Phyllis Kottler Friedman Professor in Neurosurgery and the State of Florida Endowed Chair of Cancer Research within the UF College of Medicine. He serves as the Director of Cancer Therapeutics and Immuno-Oncology for the UF Health Cancer Center, and Co-Director of the Preston A. Wells, Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy.

Michelle Monje, MD, PhD

Stanford University

Dr. Michelle Monje is an Assistant Professor at Stanford University in the Department of Neurology and, by courtesy, the Departments of Pediatrics, Pathology and Neurosurgery; a member of the Stanford Child Health Research Institute, Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology, the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Stanford Neuroscience Institute; and a practicing neurologist and pediatric neuro-oncologist at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.

Javad Nazarian, PhD

University of Zurich, University Children’s Hospital Zurich

Dr. Nazarian is a Professor at University of Zurich, Department of Pediatrics, Head of DMG/DIPG Research Center at University Children’s Hospital Zurich, and Scientific Co-Chair, Children’s Brain Tumor Network. His research focuses on understanding molecular pathways driving childhood brain cancers and, most importantly, find ways for rapid translation of laboratory findings to the clinic. He leads two research groups; one in Zurich, Switzerland, and one in Washington, DC that focus on developing biorepositories, preclinical disease models, performing molecular analyses, drug assays, and correlative studies for ongoing clinical trials.

Sheila K. Singh, MD, Phd, FRCS(C)

McMaster University

Dr. Sheila Singh is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and Biochemistry. She is the Director of the Surgeon-Scientist Program, Director of the Pediatric Brain Tumour Study Group, and the Director of the Centre for Discovery in Cancer Research (CDCR). She holds a Canada Research Chair in Human Cancer Stem Cell Biology. Dr. Singh received her M.D. from McMaster University. Her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, and her Doctorate of Neurosurgery are from the University of Toronto. Her Ph.D. thesis described the novel identification of a population of cancer stem cells that drive the formation of brain tumours. As a scientist and a pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Singh is especially aware of the needs of patients and clinicians dealing with brain diseases. Thus, her current research is dedicated to applying a developmental neurobiology approach to the study of brain cancer.

Sriram Venneti, MD, PhD

University of Michigan

Dr. Venneti is a clinician-scientist with expertise in Neuropathology and the biology of brain cancer. Dr. Venneti completed his residency in Anatomic Pathology and fellowship in Neuropathology at the University of Pennsylvania followed by postdoctoral work at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Venneti was recruited as a faculty member to the University of Michigan in November 2014.

Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD

Columbia University

Dr. Robert Wechsler-Reya is H. Houston Merritt Professor of Neurological Sciences and Scientific Director of Brain Tumor Research in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University. Dr. Wechsler-Reya’s research focuses on the signals that control growth and differentiation in the cerebellum and how these signals are dysregulated in the pediatric brain tumor medulloblastoma.

Nick Vitanza, MD

Seattle Children’s Hospital

Dr. Nick Vitanza is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s and an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, where he leads the Brain Tumor Research Program and CNS CAR T cell development. He designs innovative clinical trials using intracranially delivered CAR T cells for children with aggressive brain tumors like DIPG/DMG and conducts translational research to drive new treatment approaches. A leader in global collaboration, his work has been published in top scientific journals and contributed to national initiatives such as the White House Cancer Moonshot.

Bill Weiss, MD, PhD

University of California, San Francisco

Dr. William Weiss is a pediatric neurologist in San Francisco, California and is affiliated with UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center. He received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years.

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