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Peter M. Black, M.D., Ph.D., FACS
Chair, Departments of Neurosurgery, Children’s Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Neurosurgeon-in-Chief, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School
Chief of Neurosurgical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Black is a respected clinical neurosurgeon with a busy neurosurgical oncology practice that includes many international referrals. He directs the brain tumor program at Dana-Farber Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center.
He is consistently listed in Best Doctors in America and Top Doctors with special interest in surgery for meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, and low-grade gliomas; image-guided minimally invasive neurosurgery; skull base surgery; and brain mapping. He helped to develop the first intraoperative MRI and has used this device extensively to improve brain tumor treatment. He also has extensive experience in epilepsy surgery in children and hydrocephalus in adults.
Dr. Black sits on many review boards and is chairman of the Editorial Board of Neurosurgery and the senior representative of the CNS to the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. His laboratory has had ongoing funding since 1980, including present RO1 funding. It investigates growth and invasion in brain tumors, especially meningiomas. Collaborations with laboratories in France and Israel have led to new models of meningiomas, new therapeutic approaches, and improved surgical planning. His bibliography includes 10 books and 500 papers, most involving brain tumor management, brain imaging and image-guided surgery, medical ethics, and molecular neurosurgery.
Dr. Black was born in Canada and while in high school, became an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto as a solo performer in piano. He attended Harvard College, graduating with honors. He returned to Canada for medical school at McGill University. He entered surgical and then neurosurgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. During this period, he served two years in the United States Navy, mostly at the U.S. Capitol as a physician to Congress and the Supreme Court. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Georgetown University. In 1980 he joined the staff at the MGH. In 1987 he became a Professor and Chief of Neurosurgery at the Brigham and Women’s and Children’s Hospitals.
Dr. Black is deeply committed to neurosurgical research, clinical practice, and education. He has a great interest in the work of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and chairs its Bylaws Committee, also sitting on the Education and Ethics committees. He has mentored students, residents, young faculty, and graduate neurosurgeons from more than 30 countries and has given invited lectures in 40. He is very proud of the productivity of his former trainees, many holding prominent academic positions.
Dr. Black’s Clinical Background:
Medical Education
McGill University, Montreal, 1970
Internship/Residency
Surgery and Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 1970-1980
Fellowships
Tumors, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1976; Hydrocephalus, Children’s Hospital Boston, 1981
Clinical and Research Interests
Brain tumors, radiosurgery, image-guided minimally invasive surgery, pituitary tumors, skull base tumors, epilepsy, hydrocephalus
Read about Dr. Black's Brain Tumor Laboratory.
Click here to read an interview with Dr. Black.
Eliza
beth B. Claus, Ph.D., M.D.
Associate Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Yale University
Biostatistician, Epidemiology of Cancer NIH study
Dr. Claus’s research interests include the epidemiology of brain tumors as well as the study of outcomes for neurosurgical patients. As a result of pilot data that Dr. Claus generated from several Brain Science Foundation seed project grants, she leveraged significant external funding to bring local projects to a national level. The $9.5 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be the largest multi-dimensional national study to comprehensively examine the environmental, genetic, pathologic and clinical variables associated with meningioma risk.
This Meningioma Consortium Study will include approximately 1,600 persons with a new meningioma diagnosis and 1,600 persons without such a diagnosis from five population-based study sites in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and North Carolina as well as the San Francisco Bay Area and Harris County, Texas, and will examine risk factors associated with a diagnosis of meningioma, the most frequently reported of primary intra-cranial neoplasms.
Despite the fact that meningiomas are the most common of all primary brain and central nervous system tumors, limited data is available on long-term outcomes for meningioma patients. The five-year grant from the NIH will also evaluate the quality of life for persons with meningiomas. Dr. Claus has commented that now is an ideal time to launch a study of meningioma given the recently enacted Benign Brain Tumor Cancer Registries Amendment, which mandates the registration of all brain tumors, both malignant and non-malignant, with U.S. Government Cancer Registries as well as the development of new tools in genetic and molecular epidemiology.
Additional investigators in the multi-center study include Drs. Joseph Wiemels and Margaret Wrensch, the University of California at San Francisco; Dr. Joellen Schildkraut, Duke University; Dr. Melissa Brody, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; and Dr. Peter Black, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.
Dr. Claus’ Clinical Background
Medical Education
Yale University School of Medicine, 1994
Internship
General Surgery, Yale-New Haven Hospital, 1996
Fellowship
Neurosurgical Oncology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 2003
Clinical and Research Interests
Brain tumors, epidemiology of brain tumors, meningioma, glioma, metastatic brain tumors, metastatic breast cancer
Rona Carroll,
Ph.D., M.D.
Co-Director, Black Lab - A Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Rona Carroll is Associate Director of the Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory in Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. The Neurosurgical Oncology laboratory engages in a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the basic biology of human brain tumors, and then uses this information to develop new therapeutic strategies. The laboratory provides a unique environment for neurosurgeons, basic scientists, medical students and research fellows to conduct cutting edge scientific studies. More specifically, Dr. Carroll has conducted seminal work on the expression and function of steroid hormone receptors in human meningiomas. This work is now being expanded in collaboration with Drs. Kalamarides and Giovannini in Paris, France. They are working on the development of new animal models of meningiomas and genetic characterization of these tumors by SNP and Affymetrix microarray analysis. Additionally, Dr. Carroll is developing new local deliveries methods for the treatment of brain tumors in collaboration with Dr. Marcelle Machluf, a bioengineer at the Technion University in Haifa, Israel.
Dr. Carroll is also the co-director of the Brain Tissue Bank and Cell Repository for Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital, Boston. The Tumor Bank contains approximately 2,500 human brain tumor specimens, and RNA, and DNA isolated from brain tumors. This bank represents a valuable resource for brain tumor research.
Samples are sent to scientists around the world for their studies. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research and Journal of Neuro-oncology. Her research group has made research presentations around the world including at the European Neuro-oncology meeting in Italy and the Society of Neuro-oncology meeting in Colorado. Dr. Carroll was recently awarded a grant from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation in collaboration with Dr. Marcelle Machluf. Dr. Carroll’s research is also funded by grants from the NIH and the Brain Science Foundation.
Dr. Carroll’s Research Background
Graduate Education
M.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1985
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987
Postdoctoral Training
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 1987-1991
Research Interests
Experimental therapies of brain tumors including local delivery, molecular genetics of brain tumors
Alexandra J
. Golby, M.D.
Associate Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Director, Golby Lab - A Surgical Brain Mapping Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Golby practices clinical neurosurgery with a focus on the treatment of brain tumors and epilepsy. Her clinical expertise is in the treatment of patients with lesions in the eloquent cortex and the use of functional brain mapping techniques, including awake surgery, to improve neurologic outcome. She practices at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Her contributions to the clinical work of the Neurosurgery Department focus on the translation of neuroscience techniques in functional brain mapping, particularly functional MRI (fMRI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), to the clinical realm. In particular, she is leading the development and validation of fMRI for the pre-operative evaluation of patients with lesions in motor and language areas of the brain. She is actively involved in collaborations to advance intraoperative navigation systems, incorporate functional imaging into the operating room, and generally facilitate the transition of imaging advances into the operating room. Dr. Golby is working closely with colleagues from Radiology, Anesthesiology, Facilities, Nursing and General Electric on the development of AMIGO (Advanced Multimodality Image-Guided Operating room). This first-of-its-kind image guided surgery suite will enable MR, CT, PET, fl uoroscopic and electrophysiologic guidance to be integrated and presented to the surgeon thereby optimizing surgical treatment. Dr. Golby’s research is presently funded by a K08 grant from NIH as well as grants from the Brain Science Foundation and the Brigham and Women’s Institute for the Neurosciences.
Dr. Golby’s Clinical Background
Medical Education
Stanford University School of Medicine, 1995
Internship/Residency
Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 2000
Chief Residency
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Boston, 2002
Clinical and Research Interests
Epilepsy, brain tumors, brain mapping
Mark D. Jo
hnson, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Director, Neurosurgical Pain Management Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Director, Johnson Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Mark D. Johnson was born in 1964 in Memphis, Tennessee. At the age of 14, he received a scholarship to attend Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he graduated with honors in 1982. He subsequently graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in chemistry from Amherst College in 1986. Dr. Johnson then matriculated at Harvard Medical School, where he earned a medical degree and a Ph.D. in neurobiology in 1995. He completed an internship in general surgery and a residency in neurosurgery at the University of Washington in Seattle in 2003. While at the University of Washington, Dr. Johnson also performed postdoctoral research on mechanisms of neuronal cell death occurring after injury. He received an NIH postdoctoral National Research Service Award and, after his appointment as Acting Instructor at the University of Washington in 2003, he was also awarded an NIH K08 Research Award to support his work.
Upon completion of his residency, Dr. Johnson returned to Boston to join the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Johnson’s clinical interests include neuro-oncology and the neurosurgical management of pain. He maintains an independent laboratory that is focused on the cellular and molecular biology of brain tumors. He currently resides in the Boston area with his wife and children.
Dr. Johnson’s Clinical Background
Medical Education
Harvard Medical School, 1995
Internship
General Surgery, University of Washington School of Medicine, 1996
Residency
Neurosurgery, University of Washington School of Medicine, 2003
Fellowship
Neurosurgery, Oregon Health & Sciences University,
Clinical and Research Interests
Brain tumors, neurosurgical oncology, neurosurgical pain management
Ron Kikin
is, M.D.
Director, Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Clinical interests include the development of clinical applications for image processing, computer vision and interactive rendering methods. Dr. Kikinis is currently concentrating on developing fully automated segmentation methods and introducing computer graphics into the operating room. He is the author of 125 peer-reviewed articles.
Before joining Brigham & Women’s Hospital in 1988, Dr. Kikinis worked as a researcher at the ETH in Zurich and as a resident at the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. He received his M.D. from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in 1982.
Dr. Kikinis’ Clinical Background
Medical Education
University of Zurich, Switzerland, 1982
Internship/Residency
Intern in Radio-oncology, University Hospital, 1983-1984
Resident in Radiology, Institute of Radiology, University Hospital, 1984-1986
Resident in MR Unit, Children’s Hospital, University of Zurich, 1986-1987
Fellowships
Research Fellow, Radiation Biology, University Hospital, 1980
Research Fellow, Image Processing in Radiology, Institute of Radiology, University Hospital, 1986, 1987-1988
Research Fellow, Image Processing in Radiology, Institute of Communications Technology of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1986, 1987-1988
Research Fellow, Neuro MR, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 1988-1989
Clinical Interests
Development of clinical applications for image processing, computer vision and interactive rendering methods
Patrick Y.
Wen, M.D.
Director, Neuro-Oncology Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Department of Neurology
Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Clinical Director, Center For Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center
Dr. Wen graduated from the Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London, in 1981. He completed his internal medicine training at the University of London postgraduate hospitals and his neurology residency in the Harvard-Longwood Neurology Training Program. His research is focused on novel treatments of brain tumors, especially targeted molecular agents. His other clinical interests include neurologic complications of cancer.
Dr. Wen’s Clinical Background
Medical Education
University of London, 1981
Internship
Medicine, St. Bartholonew’s Hospital, England, 1982
Surgery, North Middlesex Hospital, 1982
Residency
Medicine, Whittington/Royal Northern Hospital, London, 1983
Medicine, London Chest Hospital, 1984
Neurology, Harvard Longwood Neurology Training Program, 1988
Medicine, National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, 1984
Nathalie 
Y.R. Agar, Ph.D.
Instructor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Researcher, Black Lab - A Neurosurgical Oncology Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dr. Agar was recently appointed to Instructor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. She was a postdoctoral fellow in Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute from 2002 through 2005, and in the Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School with Dr. Peter Black from 2005 through 2007. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Concordia University in Montreal and received her B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Laval University in Quebec. Throughout her training, she has received multiple competitive fellowships from national granting agencies as well as from private foundations.
Dr. Agar is developing a rapid, accurate, and high-throughput approach for characterizing meningiomas and other brain tumors at the molecular level at the time of surgery. The technology, called Mass Spectrometry Imaging, will provide us information on hundreds of proteins from intact meningioma tissue in minutes, and has the potential to revolutionize the care of patients. One limiting factor in treating brain tumors is an understanding of the proteins a specific tumor uses to drive its growth and invasion. Biochemical factors responsible for tumor development, maintenance, and progression vary from one cancer to another, as well as from one patient to another. A comprehensive molecular diagnosis obtained during surgery will enable surgeons to tailor treatment during surgery by knowing how aggressive and invasive a tumor may be by its biochemical profile, and can form the basis for adjuvant therapy such as chemotherapy including agents given into the tumor cavity at the time of surgery. It is also important for later choice of chemotherapy given systemically.
With prognosis being intimately related to the appropriateness of treatment modality, identifying and grading tumors with high sensitivity and molecular accuracy would maximize treatment efficiency. Current diagnosis and treatment rely upon observations of tissue and cellular characteristics such as proliferation, cellular and nuclear morphology, vascularization, and specific available biomarkers. The current histopathological approaches would be augmented by the proposed detailed molecular profile.
To develop this diagnostic approach, Dr. Agar collaborates closely with clinicians and scientists from different disciplines, as well as with industry. She currently works with Dr. Peter Black and Dr. Mark Johnson from Neurosurgery at BWH, Dr. Keith Ligon from Pathology at BWH and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Jeffrey Agar from Chemistry at Brandeis University, and Dr. Patrick Wen, from Neurology Oncology at BWH and DFCI.
The scope of her initial project is to develop a mass spectrometry imaging platform for rapid molecular characterization of meningiomas, with the long term goal to include characterization of other brain tumors. This should begin to allow personalized cancer care, the matching of the biochemical profile of a specific patient’s tumor to available specific drugs.
Dr. Agar’s Clinical Background
Education
B.Sc. in Biochemistry, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, 1997
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 2002
Postdoctoral Training
Neurology & Neurosurgery, McGill University, Brain Tumor Research Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, 2002-2005
Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, 2005-2007
