Neurosurgeon to lead brain cancer clinical trials at University of Miami
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Ashish Shah, MD, has been named director of clinical trials and translational research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Brain Tumor Initiative at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
“We expect Dr. Shah to very quickly become one of the nation’s most recognized brain tumor researchers,” Ricardo J. Komotar, MD, professor of neurological surgery at Miller School of Medicine and director of the Brain Tumor Initiative, said in a press release. “Dr. Shah is not only a world-class surgeon, but also does cutting-edge research. His role is to bring bench research to the clinic and bring clinical trials to our program.”
Shah completed his undergraduate studies, medical school and residency at University of Miami. He completed a fellowship at NIH earlier this year. The 1-year fellowship focused on clinical trial design and translational neuro-oncology.
Much of Shah’s work will focus on glioblastoma, as well as the potential of virus-based gene therapy. Shah helped discover a key role of endogenous retroviruses in glioblastoma development, and he is working to develop virotherapy that involves delivering tumor-selective suicide genes using a novel retrovirus, according to the release.
“The treatments we have to date have failed. Now we are working to harness the immune system to recognize these tumors and fight them off,” Shah said. “Potentiating the immune response against ... brain tumors is critical. If we can use retroviruses to both kill tumors and induce an immune response, that is where I think the future is.”
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