Brain Tumor Program (BTP)

Leadership

Hideho Okada, MD, PhD

Hideho Okada, MD, PhDHideho Okada, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery, is Co-Leader of the UPCI Brain Tumor Program. He initially joined the faculty in the Department of Neurological Surgery in 1996 as a visiting research associate. Dr. Okada received his medical training at the Nagoya University School of Medicine and graduated in 1991 with a bachelor of medicine degree. In 1992, he completed his internship and residency training at Handa Municipal Hospital in Japan, and then received neurosurgical residency training at Nagoya Redcross Hospital in Japan. In 1996, Dr. Okada obtained his PhD from the Graduate School of Nagoya University School of Medicine. In 2003, Dr. Okada received a board certification from Japan Neurosurgical Society. In 2004, Dr. Okada received a license as medical physician and surgeon from Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Dr. Okada's major research interests lie in biological therapy for cancers, especially malignant brain tumors. Other areas of research include gene therapy and neural stem cell mediated therapy for brain tumors. Dr. Okada holds a patent from the United States Patent Office for Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors Comprising a First and Second Nucleic Acid Sequence. He is the principal investigator on four external grants dealing with tumor vaccines and the PI on an NIH grant for brain tumor therapy with dendritic cells.

Department website: http://www.neurosurgery.pitt.edu/faculty/okada.html

Ian F. Pollack, MD

Ian F Pollack, MDIan F. Pollack, MD, Walter Dandy Professor of Neurological Surgery, is Co-Leader of the UPCI Brain Tumor Program and chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He is also chair of the Central Nervous System Tumor Committee of the Children's Oncology Group and the Local Delivery Committee of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, where he serves both on the Steering Committee and the Executive Committee. Dr. Pollack graduated magna cum laude from Emory University in 1980, where he earned a BS degree in chemistry. He received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1984, and then completed a surgical internship and neurosurgical residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Prior to joining the faculty of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992, he was awarded the 1991 Van Wagenen Traveling Fellowship, which afforded him a year of subspecialty training in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, the Neuro-Oncology Laboratory of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and the Laboratory of Tumor Biology of the University of Uppsala in Sweden. He currently directs NIH-funded studies examining molecular predictors of outcome in glioma and is Program Leader for a Program Project that is studying novel strategies for brain tumor therapy. His specialized areas of interest include pediatric neurosurgery, pediatric neuro-oncology, craniofacial surgery, congenital spinal abnormalities, and brain tumor clinical trials. Dr. Pollack has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals, numerous book chapters and invited papers, and has edited two books on childhood brain tumors. He is co-editor of the recently published book Principles and Practice of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

Department website: http://www.neurosurgery.pitt.edu/faculty/pollack.html