about us
The Glioblastoma Research Organization Advisory Board
The Glioblastoma Research Organization is pleased to announce Vidya Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D.; Michael E. Ivan, MD; and Ricardo Jorge Komotar, MD, FAANS, FACS as members of its medical advisory board. These esteemed doctors will be counseling the organization on opportunities for maximizing the impact of its research globally.
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Vidya Gopalakrishnan, PH.D.
The overarching goal of Dr. Gopalakrishnan’s work at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) is developing targeted therapeutics against brain tumors of childhood. To this end, her lab focuses on understanding how perturbations in the biology of the RE1 Silencing Transcription Factor (REST), a regulator of brain development, contributes to brain tumor pathogenesis, and defining context specific therapeutic vulnerabilities. Dr. Gopalakrishnan also works closely with a multidisciplinary team of scientists and physicians to develop immunotherapy for recurrent/refractory pediatric brain tumors, along with imaging tools to monitor the fate of therapeutically administered NK cells and other cell therapy products.
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Ricardo J Komotar, MD, FAANS, FACS
Dr. Komotar, Surgical Director of The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Brain Tumor Institute, is a professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine and serves as a director of several University of Miami programs including its Surgical Neuro-Oncology, the Neurosurgery Residency Program and the Surgical Neuro-Oncology Fellowship Program.
Dr. Komotar is an internationally recognized leader in the field of brain tumors and performs nearly 800 procedures for these conditions each year using innovative surgical and radiosurgical techniques, making him one of the highest volume brain tumor surgeons in the world.
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Michael E. Ivan, MD, MBS, FAANS
Dr. Ivan is the Clinical Site Disease Leader of Neuro-Oncology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of Research at the University of Miami Brain Tumor Initiative. He is also the Principal Investigator of the Ivan Brain Tumor Invasion Lab and the Director of Skull Base Surgery at the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital.
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Dr. Henry S. Friedman
Dr. Henry S. Friedman is an internationally renowned academic adult and pediatric neuro-oncologist who helps to lead The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. He is the author of more than 500 peer reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters and has presented extensively at both international and national meetings.
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Dr. John A. Boockvar, MD
Dr. Boockvar is a professor of neurological surgery and otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He is also an investigator at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, where he directs the Laboratory for Brain Tumor Biology and Therapy.
We’ve provided support through our projects, raising over $2.1M+ in the last two years.
Our Role in Funding GBM Research
The Glioblastoma Research Organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization raising awareness and funds for new global, cutting-edge research to find a cure for glioblastoma. The organization was established in 2018 and, to date, has provided support to doctors and researchers through four fully funded projects at U.S. based leading cancer centers. GBMRO has also raised over $2.1M+ in the last two years and has partnered with GBM-related projects around the globe.
