Focused Ultrasound Blood Brain Barrier Opening for Glioblastoma Workshop

Manmeet Ahluwalia

David Arons

Dr. Arvanitis is a joint Associate Professor at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. Dr. Arvanitis’ research integrates ultrasonics, quantitative imaging, mathematical modeling, and in vitro/in vivo experimentation to support the discovery and translation to the clinics of novel diagnostic and therapeutic interventions against human disease. Specific areas of his research include medical ultrasound, targeted cell and gene delivery, cell-based diagnostics and therapeutics, image guided therapy, and cancer research.

Dr. Balaj earned a Master’s degree in Oncology from VU University Amsterdam and subsequently completed a Ph.D. in Medicine at VU University Amsterdam in 2012, specializing in brain tumor biology. Throughout her career, Dr. Balaj has focused on developing innovative droplet digital PCR approaches for biomarker studies in extracellular vesicles (EVs), showcasing the detection of genetic alterations like point mutations, deletions, and amplifications in extracellular RNA (exRNA) derived from biofluid EVs. Dr. Balaj is currently Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Chetan Bettegowda is currently the Jennison and Novak Families Professor of Neurosurgery, Oncology and Radiation Oncology and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His clinical focus is on the surgical management of brain tumors. He directs the Khatib Brain Tumor Center. As Medical Director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, his laboratory efforts have focused on the applications of cell free tumor derived DNA for the early detection and monitoring of a myriad of cancers..

Michael S. Canney received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Boston University and his Ph.D. degree in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. He is currently the Chief Scientific Officer at Carthera, a French startup company developing the SonoCloud-9, an implantable ultrasound device designed to temporarily disrupt the blood-brain barrier to enhance the delivery of therapeutics to the brain.

Dr. Susan Chang is a Professor in the Division of NeuroOncology and specializes in treating adults with brain tumors and is a co-leader for the NeuroOncology Program for the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has a major research focus on the development of novel therapies for patients and has served as the PI on numerous clinical trials. She is a leader on multi-programmatic grants that address the integration of physiologic and metabolic imaging with tissue biomarkers to optimize the management of glioma patients. Dr. Chang is the Director of the NeuroOncology Supportive Care Services and has created novel supportive care programs to enhance the care of patients and families.

Dr. Hong Chen is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurosurgery at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington in 2011. She joined Columbia University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering as a postdoctoral research scientist from 2012 to 2015. Since joining Washington University in St. Louis in 2015, her research has been focusing on harnessing the power of ultrasound for non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases and understanding brain functions.

Dr. Clark C. Chen currently serves as the Director of the Brain Tumor Program for the Department of Neurosurgery, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University . He specializes in the surgical treatment of brain cancers, with NIH funded laboratory efforts directed toward the development of glioma therapies. Dr. Chen has published over 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is consistently recognized as a “Top Doctor” in the state of Minnesota (Mpls. St. Paul Magazine and Minnesota Monthly) and nationally (Castle Connolly and Marquis).

Dr. Chen received his MD and PhD (Genetics) from Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. He completed his neurosurgery training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School in 2008. Dr. Chen pursued an in-folded clinical fellowship in radiosurgery and a second fellowship in stereotactic neurosurgery before joining staff as the Director of Surgical Neuro-Oncology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. He was recruited to the University of California San Diego Neurosurgery in 2011, where he rose to the rank of tenured ladder-rank Professor and served as the Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs until his current role. Between 2017 and 2024, Dr. Chen held the French Lyle Chair in Neurosurgery and serves as the Head of the Neurosurgery program at the University of Minnesota. He joined Brown University in 2024.

Dr. Chiocca is the Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, funded by the Daniel E. Ponton fund. Dr. Chiocca is a clinician-scientist whose research is focused on developing novel genetic therapies for malignant brain tumors. He is the current Secretary of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the President of the Society of Neurosurgeons, among other board positions.

Scott is a Registered Patent Agent with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from The University of Texas at Austin. He has experience in technology transfer across three Universities, most recently at MUSC, where he served as the Senior Director working with researchers to patent inventions and further develop technologies through licenses to existing companies, and formation and funding startup spinouts. In 2021 he joined the Sontag Foundation to operationalize and manage its venture subsidiary Sontag Innovation Fund (SIF), where he currently serves as Managing Director. The SIF focuses on providing capital critical to de-risking and developing technologies that have the potential to change the standard of care for brain cancer.

I am a Neuropathologist who specializes in the diagnosis and molecular characterization of malignant brain tumors. I am currently a Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Translational Molecular Pathology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), and I have run an independent research laboratory since the fall of 2009. My group focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of primary gliomas and brain metastases with a major goal of translating our findings to the development of more effective therapies and diagnostic tools. We are particularly interested in defining the extent to which epigenomic dysfunction drives these deadly tumors.

With her prior clinical experience as a neuroradiologist and having performed hundreds of focused ultrasound procedures since 2004, Suzanne LeBlang, MD, now represents the Focused Ultrasound Foundation by interacting with various researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers to foster collaborations. She interfaces with the medical community at various meetings in order to update the Foundation staff. In coordination with the communications team, she helps increase awareness through oral presentations and articles. She also assists the Chairman and the development team with building relationships with individuals, other foundations, and non-profits. She has published papers and delivered numerous scientific talks in the field of focused ultrasound. Suzanne received her BA in Biology and MD degree from the University of Miami six-year Honors Program in Medical Education and completed her radiology residency and neuroradiology fellowship at the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Maruvada is the Assistant Director for the Division of Applied Mechanics in the Office of Science and Engineering Labs in the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health. She also leads the Therapeutic Ultrasound Program within OSEL. With a background in Electrical Engineering and Acoustics, Dr. Maruvada has worked in the area of ultrasound metrology and modeling for over 20 years. Dr. Maruvada is active in both scientific and standards organizations. She serves as Working Group Convener, primary liaison and technical expert on several working groups within International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee (TC) 87 Ultrasonics.

Dr. McDannold is a Physicist in Radiology Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Director of the Focused Ultrasound Laboratory. His work has been primarily concerned with the development and implementation of targeted drug delivery, ablation, and other focused ultrasound therapies, and methods to guide and monitor these therapies. He has also worked on clinical implementation of focused ultrasound.

Dr. Nabavizadeh is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with a research appointment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the imaging lead of two consortia, CBTN (The Children’s Brain Tumor Network) and PNOC (The Pacific Pediatric Neuro-oncology Consortium) respectively dedicated to biospecimen/imaging-driven data generation and precision medicine clinical trials. Dr. Nabavizadeh’s research focuses on multimodality imaging using structural and physiologic MRI imaging with additional PET probes and molecular imaging techniques to better understand the complex nature of brain tumor microenvironment..

Dr. Kazim Narsinh is a neurointerventional radiologist, a hybrid specialist in performing minimally invasive surgery to treat the brain using imaging technology for guidance. Dr. Narsinh leads and performs numerous MRI-guided procedures and serves as an investigator in a number of clinical and preclinical projects aiming to improve therapeutic delivery to the central nervous system.

At UCSF, Dr. Narsinh is an assistant professor of radiology and neurosurgery, the Director of Neuro-Oncology in the Focused Ultrasound in Neuroscience program, and a member of the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Kazim received his undergraduate and medical education at the University of California Berkeley and the University of California San Diego. He then received postgraduate residency and fellowship training in surgery, radiology, and interventional neuroradiology at Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, and UCSF.

Lauren Powlovich, MD, MBA, joined the Foundation in March 2019 and serves as Associate Chief Medical Officer. She brings together key stakeholders and synthesizes and executes cohesive plans to advance focused ultrasound for several applications including neurodegenerative disorders, glioblastoma, DIPG/DMG, and sonodynamic therapy. She fosters education by creating and maintaining the Foundation’s comprehensive overview documents that outline the state of the field for a variety of relevant indications. Prior to joining the Foundation, Lauren trained as an anesthesiologist, and she has always been passionate about putting patients first. She continues to have that mindset and works hard to ensure that focused ultrasound reaches patients safely and efficiently.

With over 30 years of expertise in the medical device industry, I am a seasoned engineering leader with deep expertise in ultrasound engineering. My journey began with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, followed by roles at Acuson and Siemens Medical Solutions, where I participated in the development of world-class ultrasound diagnostic systems. I progressed to higher management roles, including CTO at InnerVision Medical Technologies and Executive Director (Ventures) at Stanford Research Institute. As the co-founder of Cordance Medical in 2018, I am leading the development of a non-invasive BBB opening with ultrasound, aligning expertise in product development, business strategy, and project management..

Jann N. Sarkaria, M.D., is a consultant and professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Sarkaria’s translational neuro-oncology laboratory is focused on developing novel therapeutic strategies for people with glioblastoma (GBM) and brain metastases. Global interests in the lab include understanding the basis of resistance to chemotherapy and radiation, identifying methods to overcome therapy resistance, integration of novel signal transduction inhibitors into conventional therapies for newly diagnosed or recurrent GBM, and use of next-generation sequencing and proteomics to guide individualized therapy for patients with GBM. His research is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Cancer Institute, among others.

Dr. Sprowls is a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Sameer Agnihotri at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. A pharmacokineticist by training, his work focuses on interrogating the tumor microenvironment for novel molecular interactions between tumor cells and vascular endothelial cells that regulate blood-brain barrier integrity in tumors of the central nervous system, hoping to reveal the next generation of therapeutic vulnerabilities..

Dr. Thorne has conducted research for over three decades on physiology, brain structure, and the CNS barriers with the overarching goal of identifying how best to deliver proteins, oligonucleotides, and gene therapy vectors to the brain. He joined Denali Therapeutics as a Denali Fellow in 2018 after over 10 years on the faculty at NYU School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to his Denali ‘scholar-in-residence’ scientific role, he also heads Denali’s Postdoc Program and serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is the elected 2023 President of the International Brain Barriers Society (IBBS) and has held many additional leadership roles in the field, including chair (2016) and vice-chair (2014) of the ‘Barriers of the CNS’ Gordon Research Conference, co-chair of the 2019 AAPS-IBBS Workshop on CNS drug delivery, and principal organizer for the inaugural ‘Drug Delivery to the Brain’ Keystone Symposium, held in Breckenridge, CO in January, 2023.

Michael A. Vogelbaum, MD, PhD, is Program Leader of NeuroOncology and Chief of Neurosurgery at Moffitt Cancer Center. Dr. Vogelbaum has been Primary Investigator of numerous local and national clinical trials of new drugs and surgical techniques and devices for brain tumors, and he is a co-founder of the RANO (Response Assessment in NeuroOncology) group, and co-Chair of the Brain Committee for NRG Oncology. He has an externally funded translational research program which focuses on drug delivery to brain tumors including both Phase 0/Window of Opportunity clinical trials, and trials that involve active delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain.

Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School and Director, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Co-Chair, NCI Brain Malignancy Steering Committee. Former President Society of Neuro-Oncology and Editor-In-Chief of Neuro-Oncology.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Dr. White was a private consultant working in operations and business development support in the healthcare and medical start-up space. Her clients have included everything from a 4,000+ employee, publicly traded, health care company to a brand new start-up with two employees. Her background includes training in general surgery, leadership positions in several highly technical start-up companies with federal clients, non-profit executive management and over 25 years of grant writing experience. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology & Anthropology at Smith College and holds certification for Community Conflict Resolution from Loyola Law School. She is also a University of Virginia School of Medicine graduate.

Graeme Woodworth, MD, FACS is the Howard M. Eisenberg Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He also serves as the Director of the Brain Tumor Program and the Translational Therapeutics Research Group in the Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Maryland. Dr. Woodworth completed medical school and neurosurgical residency training at Johns Hopkins. He also completed fellowships in cancer nanomedicine at Johns Hopkins and cranial endoscopy at Cornell with Dr. Ted Schwartz. His clinical subspecialty areas of interest are Neurosurgical Oncology and Skull base and Stereotactic surgery. Dr. Woodworth’s research focuses on developing new therapeutic strategies to improve the treatments and outcomes for patients with malignant brain tumors.