Faculty & Staff of Neuro-Oncology and Blood-Brain Barrier Program
Edward A. Neuwelt, M.D.
Edward A. Neuwelt, M.D. is a Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. He divides his time between clinical work, primarily in the area of neuro-oncology including both operative neurosurgery and chemotherapy, and directing his research laboratory.
Education
Dr. Neuwelt attended Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois from 1965 – 1968 and then received his M.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Colorado in 1972. For his postgraduate Training, Dr. Neuwelt did a surgical internship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas, 1972 – 1973, followed by a Neurosurgical Residency at the same institution from 1973 – 1978. During this time, Dr. Neuwelt also completed two neuro-oncology and neurosurgery research fellowships, first at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1974 – 1976) and then Queen Square Hospital in London, England (1976). While at the NIH, Dr. Neuwelt also completed his military duty as a Clinical Associate (Lt. Commander) in the United States Public Health Service, Neurosurgery and Enzymology Sections in Baltimore, Maryland (July, 1974 - July, 1976). Dr. Neuwelt is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and is a fully trained neuro-oncologist.
Faculty Appointments
In Texas, Dr. Neuwelt was Assistant Professor in both Surgery and Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He was also Chief of the Neurosurgery Service at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas, Texas from 1978 – 1981. Dr. Neuwelt moved his laboratory to Portland Oregon in 1981 where he joined the faculty at the Oregon Health & Science University, both in the Department of Neurology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He was Chief of the Neurosurgery Service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon 1981 – 1989, and he maintains an affiliation with the Portland VA Neurosurgery Service. Currently Dr. Neuwelt is a Professor in the departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery. He is a member of the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program at OHSU, and also regularly teaches the neurology and neurosurgery house staff on topics related to brain tumors.
Activities and Organizations
Dr. Neuwelt is the principal investigator of three NIH R01 grants, one VA Merit Review grant, and a DOD Center of Excellence award. (see Preclinical Research) He has been a regular member of the VA Merit Review Study Section on Neurobiology, and an NIH Study Section (NSP-A) that reviews program project and center grants. Dr. Neuwelt is a regular reviewer of neuroscience-related journals, including Neurosurgery, for which he was a member of the editorial board. He initiated and is director of Think First Oregon, a brain and spinal cord injury prevention program. He has eight approved patents, five of which have been licensed to Adherex, Inc. to investigate thiol agent chemoprotection. In collaboration with Dr. James Rosenbaum and Dr. Richard Rosenbaum, Dr. Neuwelt set up and directs a science class for high school students that introduces young people to laboratory research. With regard to the BBB Program, Dr. Neuwelt has overseen the expansion of the program to eight institutions across the US and internationally including Canada and Israel, as well as the annual Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) Consortium meeting funded by an R13 grant.
Clinical Research Personnel
Nancy D. Doolittle, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Director of Clinical Research
Dr. Doolittle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at OHSU. She obtained a M.S. (1981), a Ph.D. (1990), and completed a post-doctoral fellowship (1991) in the Department of Physiological Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. She has been involved in the clinical care of neuroscience patients since 1974, and has been Associate Director of Clinical Research in the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) program at OHSU since 1995. Dr. Doolittle is the first author on several key publications for the BBB program, including a multi-center assessment of BBB disruption chemotherapy, first evaluation of radiolabeled rituximab in primary CNS lymphoma, first large series report describing management and outcomes of patients with isoloated brain relapse of systemic non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and the first clinical trial of sodium thiosulfate (STS) for hearing protection. Dr. Doolittle supervises clinical protocol implementation, including subject accrual, regulatory compliance, and data management, analysis and reporting. She is the coordinator for the multi-site Blood-Brain Barrier Consortium. As such, Dr. Doolittle coordinates multi-site cooperative clinical trials as well as planning the annual Consortium clinical trials meeting in the fall and the international scientific BBB meeting in the spring.
Clinical Staff
Rose Marie Tyson, ANP
Ms. Tyson received her BSA, M.S. in Nursing, and Adult Nurse Practitioner (ANP) nursing credentials from the University of Portland. She joined OHSU in 1990 and then the BBBP in 1994 as a Nurse clinician. Ms. Tyson sees all patients in the BBBP clinics and is known for her excellent rapport with patients and their families. She is in charge of compliance to protocol for many of the BBBP therapy clinical trials.
Marianne Haluska, ANP
Ms. Haluska received her BSN from OHSU and her Adult Nurse Practitioner (ANP) from Washington State University. She was an oncology nurse at OHSU for eight years before joining the BBBP in 2000. She sees patients in clinics and rounds. Ms. Haluska plays a key role in explaining complex clinical trials to patients and their families and overseeing compliance to protocol for many of the magnetic resonance imaging clinical trials.
Cindy Lacy, RN
Ms. Lacy received her BSN from the University of Portland. She has extensive training in neuro-oncology nursing and is a clinical nurse in the BBBP. Ms. Lacy assists in the angiography suite during blood-brain barrier disruption and is a certified chemotherapy nurse. She also assists in the follow-up care of patients and subjects in clinical trials.
Stephanie Green
Ms. Green has been with OHSU since October of 1993 and joined the BBBP in October 2004 as a Clinical Trial Patient Coordinator. She schedules outpatient scans, tests and clinic appointments, and inpatient admissions. Ms. Greene manages and organizes the BBBP clinics, and she handles much of the insurance paperwork.
Aliana Kim
Ms. Kim is an Office Specialist and runs all activities in the BBBP front office. Her duties include answering and routing telephone calls, setting up for clinics, taking care of office electronics and technology, and assisting Dr. Neuwelt with daily correspondence. Ms. Kim is currently in school at Mt. Hood Community College, and hopes to go on to Nursing school.
Research Staff
Lisa Bennett, B.S., CCRP
Ms. Bennett has B.S. in Molecular Biology from Portland State University, is currently working toward her Masters in Public Health Administration, and is a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP). Ms. Bennett has been with the BBBP for over 15 years, first as a laboratory technician and then for the past 9 years as the Program Administrator. She serves as grant, contract, and financial administrator for the NIH and VA grants and contracts that fund the BBBP preclinical and clinical research. She assists in development, submission and management of clinical research proposals. As a clinical study coordinator, Ms. Bennett assures adherence to protocols, assures compliance with IRB, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and FDA requirements, and monitors patients and patient tests for adverse events and outcomes.
Nancy Hedrick, B.A.
Ms. Hedrick received a B.A. in Zoology from University of Iowa, and then spent 30 years as Medical Technologist and supervisor of an infectious disease department of a clinical reference laboratory. Ms. Hedrick joined the BBBP in 2002 as a Clinical Study Coordinator. Her role includes data management, BBBP web site design and maintenance, BBBD Consortium communications, and assisting with regulatory QA audits.
Emily Hochhalter, B.S.
Ms. Hochhalter received a B.S. in Biology from Portland State University in 2005 and joined the BBBP as a Research Coordinator. In addition to manuscript and presentation management for the BBBP, Ms. Hochhalter also works closely with Dr. Doolittle in the planning for the Annual BBB meeting and is a facilitator at the meeting. She also manages the annual OHSU high school science class, Partnership in Scientific Inquiry, under the direction of Dr. Neuwelt.
Preclinical Laboratory Personnel
Leslie L. Muldoon, Ph.D., Director of Research Operations
Dr. Muldoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. She obtained a B.S. in Chemistry (1982) and a Ph.D. in Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences (1986) from the University of Chicago, and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the OHSU Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy in 1990. She has been in charge of the BBB Program Preclinical laboratory since 1990. Dr. Muldoon has extensive background in tumor and cell biology, magnetic resonance imaging, and histological and immunological methods for assessing neurotoxicity and tumor volumetrics. She has played a central role in the analysis of chemoprotective agents against chemotherapy toxicity, and the development and imaging of brain tumor models. Dr. Muldoon directs all preclinical aspects of the program, including experimental protocol development, supervision of technicians and Research Fellows, and writing grant proposals and scientific articles.
Ying-Jen (Jeffrey) Wu, Ph.D.
Dr. Wu has a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (1990) from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, and his M.S. (1994) and Ph.D.(1999) from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. After Post-docs at Louisiana State University and OHSU Molecular Medicine, Dr. Wu joined the BBBP in 2003 as a Research Associate. He has expertise in Cellular and Molecular biology, pharmacology and pharmacodynamics, and tumor biology. His current research projects include chemo-enhancement with acetaminophen in vitro and in vivo, and localization of Q-dot labeled cells in leptomeningeal and hematogenous metastasis tumor models.
Michael A. Pagel, B.A.
Mr. Pagel received a B.A. in Biochemistry from Kalamazoo College in 1978. He joined Dr. Neuwelt in his first laboratory in Dallas in 1979, then moved to Oregon when Dr. Neuwelt established the OHSU BBBP in 1981. Mr. Pagel is an expert in the osmotic BBB disruption technique in animals and has used this technique to assess delivery chemotherapy, antibodies, and nanoparticles to the brain in multiple animal models. His duties include biochemical analysis of biological samples, MRI of rat brains, management of the OHSU nude rat colony, and compliance with the VA IACUC. Mr. Pagel’s current projects include delivery of yttrium-labeled monoclonal antibody to CNS lymphoma, and efficacy of Herceptin-auristatin immunoconjugates in breast cancer brain metastases.
Sheila R. Taylor, B.A.
Ms. Taylor received a B.A. in Biology with a secondary major in German studies from Portland’s Lewis and Clark College in 2004, and joined the BBBP in 2005. Her role is laboratory cell and histology technician, including tumor cell tissue culture, in vitro studies, and histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and pathology analysis in rat brains. Ms. Taylor also performs animal brain tumor studies, and manages annual protocol reports and addenda for the OHSU IACUC. Her current research projects include studies in a leptomeningeal breast cancer brain metastasis model.
Seth J. Lewin, B.S.
Mr. Lewin has a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in linguistics from Portland State University (2004). He joined the BBBP in 2006 as a laboratory animal and MRI technician. Mr. Lewin is responsible for tumor implantation, drug delivery studies, toxicity studies, and routine (3T) MR imaging. His current research projects include characterization of a disseminated medulloblastoma leptomeningeal tumor model, and an efficacy study of chemotherapy and rituximab monoclonal antibody in CNS lymphoma.
Research Fellows
Seymur Gahramanov, M.D.
Dr. Gahramanov is a Neuro-oncology Research Fellow. He obtained his MD degree from Azerbaijan State Medical University in 1999 (Baku, Azerbaijan), finished a residency in Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute in 2005 (Moscow, Russia) and joined the OHSU BBB program in June 2007. Dr. Gahramanov has expertise in MRI of brain, spine, and lymph nodes in animal models, and in dynamic imaging of rat brain tumors. He provides radiological support and image analysis for preclinical and clinical MRI projects. His current projects entail assessing brain inflammatory responses using iron oxide nanoparticles, and characterizing the effects of bevacizumab on dynamic MRI. Dr. Gahramanov is also involved in clinical imaging protocols in patients with different CNS pathologies.
Edit Dosa, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Dosa is a Neuro-oncology Research Fellow. She obtained her M.D. degree from Semmelweis University School of Medicine in 2001 (Budapest, Hungary), completed the Radiology residency in 2006 at Semmelweis University, and received her Ph.D. specializing in cardiovascular disorders from Semmelweis University in 2007. She joined the OHSU BBB program in July 2008. Dr. Dosa uses her neuroradiology expertise in the lab to perform imaging in rat brain tumor models using the 12 tesla animal MRI scanner. Her current projects entail assessing tumor cell localization, tumor growth, and hydrocephalus in breast cancer metastases in the brain and leptomeninges. Dr. Dosa is also involved in clinical imaging protocols assessing MRI with ferumoxytol iron nanoparticle contrast agent in patients with brain tumors.
Jason Weinstein, M.D.
Dr. Weinstein is a Neurosurgery Research Fellow. He received a B.A. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology in1998 and his M.D. in 2003 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Weinstein is a sixth year Resident in the Department of Neurological Surgery and is doing a 1 year Fellowship with the BBBP. His project is to assess early imaging changes and chemoprotection in a rat model of traumatic brain injury.
Eric Thompson, M.D.
Dr. Thompson is a Neurosurgery Research Fellow. He received a B.S. in Psychology with minors in Chemistry and Biology from Duke University (2002), and his M.D. from the University of Nebraska in 2006. Dr. Thompson is a third year resident in the Department of Neurological Surgery and is doing a 1 year Fellowship with the BBBP. His project is to assess dynamic imaging and efficacy of chemotherapy and bevacizumab in a rat model of glioblastoma.
