Help Dr. Mark Cure Pediatric Brain Tumors 

Dr. Mark Souweidane, Vice Chair of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, recently published the highly anticipated results of his first-ever dose escalation study using convection-enhanced delivery (CED) in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). The milestone Phase I clinical trial demonstrated extremely promising results, bringing forth a new potential for an effective treatment for one of the deadliest brain tumors in children. By delivering the agent into the tumor through a surgically placed infusion cannula, the procedure drastically increases the concentration of the drug at the site of the tumor while avoiding the dangerous systemic toxicity that accompanies IV or oral chemotherapy. These findings are informing the proliferation of a multi-center Phase 2 study using the same drug delivery method to inject promising new immunotherapy agents directly to the site of the tumor (read more here).

"I find myseDr. Mark Souweidane and Caitlin Downing, the first patient to enroll in his Phase 1 trial in 2011. lf at the threshold of something very meaningful, and I have never felt more optimistic. Now more than ever, I’m determined to keep going, to get to the next level, and to get my hands on a real cure for this killer,” said Dr. Mark Souweidane. 

Help support Weill Cornell Medicine's efforts to catapult Dr. Souweidane's findings into an innovative Phase 2 clinical trial.