About Us: Brain Tumor Center of Excellence

Neuro-Oncology at the Cancer Center is at the forefront of clinical research, participating in the first therapeutic trial conducted in patients with glioblastomas in the United States. Moreover, the Cancer Center was part of a National Cancer Institute( NCI)-supported Central Nervous System consortium, the American Brain Tumor Consortium (ABTC), (previously known as New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy, NABTT), under the leadership of Glenn Lesser, MD.

ABTC is a group of academic medical centers conducting research using the most innovative and predominantly experimental therapies. Furthermore, the Cancer Center was first to test the GliaSite Radiation Therapy System, one of only four new treatments approved for brain tumors in the past two decades. Stephen Tatter, MD, was the neurosurgeon who performed the first GliaSite procedure for a brain tumor patient in the US. 

Brain Tumor Clinical Trials 

In addition to studies written and conducted at WFU School of Medicine (WFSM), the BTCOE also participates in clinical trials sponsored by the Children’s Oncology Group, American College of Surgical Oncology Group, Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, and the pharmaceutical industry. In 1999, WFBMC expanded its treatment options even further when it became the first hospital in the state of North Carolina to offer Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery.

Gamma Knife Center 

The Wake Forest Gamma Knife Center is one of the busiest in the country, seeing and treating patients from throughout the Southeast region. Edward Shaw, MD, MS, and former chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology served as president of the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) in 2001-2003. In 2001, Dr. Shaw recruited Mike Robbins, PhD, as Section Head of Radiation Biology with a focus on establishing a research program on radiation-induced brain injury. Dr. Robbins is now associate director of BTCOE. Waldemar Debinski, MD, PhD, joined the Cancer Center in 2004 as first director of the BTCOE.