Our History

The history of neuro-oncology at Duke spans the entire history of the institution, beginning with the arrival of Barnes Woodhall, MD, from Johns Hopkins University in 1937.  Upon his return from World War II, Dr. Woodhall was one of the first physicians to use chemotherapy for cancer of any type in the early 1950s.    

Serving as chief of neurosurgery and later as second dean and chancellor of the Duke University School of Medicine, Dr. Woodhall was a major force in the development of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and Duke’s Neuro-Oncology Program and played a large role in the construction of the Cancer Center Isolation Facility.

Darell Bigner, MD, Ph.D., arrives at Duke as a medical student. He has been at Duke for 59 years, except for two years at the National Institutes of Health and a year as a postdoctoral fellow in Germany.

Steve Mahaley, MD, Ph.D., a second-generation investigator at The Brain Tumor Center, is one of the first researchers to study immunological characteristics of human gliomas; he also explores the relationships between chemotherapy and immunology of brain tumors.

North Carolina sees a remarkable rise in the practice of neurosurgery. In 1937, Woodhall was the only neurosurgeon in North Carolina; by 1971, there were 32.

The Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center is formed. Bigner and Mahaley are listed as "key investigators."

Bigner, with Woodhall’s support, designs and obtains a construction grant for the Cancer Center Isolation Facility, which allows investigators to work in isolated laboratories when doing research that requires biosafety II, III, and IV containment.

Bigner, Friedman, and S. Clifford Schold Jr., MD, find a way to implant human brain tumor cells in mice genetically engineered to have inhibited immune systems. They aim to treat human brain tumors in mice with different drugs to find one suitable for each patient, thus sparing patients from ineffective medications, stress, and adverse side effects.

With the core team of investigators in place, the Center became the first in the nation to be designated by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as a Specialized Research Center on Primary Tumors of the Central Nervous System, with Dr. Darell Bigner as principal investigator.

The second generation of neuro-oncology investigators included Stephen Mahaley, MD, Ph.D.; Darell Bigner, MD, Ph.D.; Allan Friedman, MD; Henry Friedman, MD; S. Clifford Schold, Jr., MD; and Sandra Bigner, MD.

Herbert Fuchs, MD, Ph.D., arrives at Duke as a medical student. He serves as Division Chief, Pediatric Neurosurgery.

The Duke Brain Tumor Program Board of Advisors is established.  With their help, 26 endowments, 9 professorships, and 66 research funds have been established, and countless other gifts have been donated to the BTC.

A vaccine developed by Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers shows promise in mice by treating brain tumors that had been thought “off limits” for the immune system. 

Drug studies begun in baker’s yeast cells give rise to a new therapy for brain tumors at Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, hoping to turn promising laboratory findings into an effective new drug. 

Hopebuilders 5K fundraising run is organized by William and Gigi Harris, Marc and Mattye Silverman. Their efforts established the Margaret Harris and David Silverman Professorship of Neuro-oncology Research, recently held by Francis Ali-Osman, DSc.

In initial clinical trials, Duke researchers Bigner and Zalutsky significantly extend the survival of patients suffering from the most malignant brain cancers by injecting antibodies directly into the cancerous region. The antibodies carry cancer-killing radioactive iodine-131 to the tumor cells.

The Rory David Deutsch Foundation establishes the Rory David Deutsch Memorial Brain Tumor Research Endowment Fund for pediatric brain tumor research with a pledge of $2 million.

Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure is founded by the Case family in memory of Dan Case. The family pledges $5 million to center. 

In an early-phase clinical trial, patients with cancerous brain tumors become the first to be treated with an intriguing new class of drugs called “immunotoxins” – part tumor-recognizing protein, part bacterial toxin. 

The Guy L Odom Professorship of Neurosurgery is established and is currently held by Allan Friedman.

Ruth and Gerhard Cless established the Bryan Cless Brain Tumor Research Fund and donated over $6 million to support brain tumor research at Duke. The Cless family has donated over $16 million for brain tumor research at Duke.

A 40-minute profile of patients and doctors of The Brain Tumor Center airs nationally on the CBS program 60 Minutes. 

The National Cancer Institute awards the Center a brain cancer SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) planning grant with Bigner as principal investigator. 

A gift from the Tug McGraw Foundation establishes The Tug McGraw Center for Neuro-oncology Quality of Life Research at The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. 

The center is awarded one of the nation’s four fully funded SPORE awards in brain cancer from the National Cancer Institute, a total of $12 million over five years.

Bigner receives a Doctor of Medicine (honoris causa) degree from the University of Lund, Sweden.

Allan Friedman received international attention for performing surgery on Senator Ted Kennedy and newspaper columnist Robert Novak, who had a brain tumor. 

Bigner receives the Zuelch Prize, Germany’s most prestigious award for basic neurological research. 

John Sampson, MD, Ph.D., showed that a vaccine aimed at inducing immunity to glioblastoma multiforme has more than doubled the survival time in patients.

Chay Kuo, MD, Ph.D., won three major awards for his research in brain tumors: Director’s New Innovator Award of $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health; Distinguished Scientist Award from the Sontag Foundation for $600,000; and Packard Fellow in Science and Engineering Award from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for $875,000. 

Duane Mitchell, MD, Ph.D., finds that by using a vaccine to target a common herpes virus found in up to 80 percent of Americans, doctors may be able to extend the lives of patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme.

Hai Yan, MD, Ph.D., and a team of Duke researchers make an exciting discovery of mutations in two genes that could become therapeutic targets in malignant gliomas. The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Bigner and Yan are part of a group of five researchers who win the National Brain Tumor Society’s first “Founders Award for Research Excellence” for groundbreaking work in the major collective advancement in the genomic analysis of gliomas.

Yiping He, PhD, arrives at Duke to work with Bigner and Yan to expand Duke’s genomic program, focusing on brain tumor genetics, tumor biology and biomarker studies.

Brain tumor patients are now seen in the new Duke Cancer Center building, the first building at Duke dedicated solely to the care of patients with cancer.

Bigner receives a five-year and more than $14 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. He and co-investigators Sampson and Zalutsky received a perfect score upon peer review of their grant. Such an outstanding score represents independent external validation of the excellence of clinical research at The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. 

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) awards the Eighth Annual AACR Team Science Award to the Duke University/Johns Hopkins University/National Cancer Institute (NCI) Malignant Brain Tumor Team at the 2014 AACR Annual Meeting. The AACR Team Science Award recognizes an outstanding interdisciplinary research team for its innovative and meritorious scientific work that has advanced or will likely advance cancer research, detection, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment.

Yan is awarded the distinguished Henry S. Friedman Professor of Neuro-oncology. This professorship recognizes Yan’s scientific accomplishments at Duke, which have centered around uncovering major genetic alterations in glioma, including IDH1 and IDH2. Yan's work has gone even further in determining the unique biology driving tumors to develop in the brain.

Bigner is selected as the recipient of the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Neuro‐Oncology. Dr. Bigner also receives the Feldman Founder’s Award for his decades of outstanding contributions and invaluable impact on the field of brain tumor research.

The National Cancer Institute honors Bigner with the Outstanding Investigator Award (OIA). The OIA is a generous 7-year, approximate $7 million grant.

The Division of Neurosurgery is elevated to departmental status within the School of Medicine. The Duke University Board of Trustees approved the creation of the Department of Neurosurgery, with Sampson named as chair of the department.

Darell Bigner, MD, Ph.D., director emeritus of The Tisch Brain Tumor Center, is ranked number seven nationally in NIH funding among all Pathology Principal Investigators for 2015—a remarkable feat considering that grants were distributed to a total of 876 Pathology Principal Investigators.

Sampson is awarded the 2015 Abhijit Guha Award. Jointly administered by the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the AANS/CNS section on tumors, the award honors an accomplished investigator who has achieved significant results both in the laboratory and the clinic, and has actively mentored the next generation of neuro-oncology professionals.

Peter E. Fecci, MD, Ph.D., is awarded the Sontag Foundation’s Distinguished Scientist Award for his work with bone marrow T Cell sequestration. This four-year grant supported Fecci’s project to better characterize T Cell sequestration in glioblastomas by deciphering the causes and developing the means for releasing T cells to create a more effective mode of brain cancer therapy.

Investigators at The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center discovered that administration of tetanus toxoid vaccine leads to enhanced CCL3 systemic levels, which are responsible for improving dendritic cell migration in both mice and GBM patients. Nature publishes an article that describes how a small clinical trial for glioblastoma patients demonstrates that the immune and anti-tumor response to dendritic cell vaccination (a type of immunotherapy) is increased by pre-conditioning the site of vaccination with tetanus/diphtheria toxoid (Td). The benefits of adding tetanus toxoid injections to the dendritic CMV vaccine therapy for glioblastoma patients are broadcasted on all the major news networks, including ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Invoking the aspirational spirit that put U.S. astronauts on the moon, Vice President Joe Biden visited Duke as part of the national “moonshot” initiative he is leading to advance cancer research.  The vice president met with John Sampson, MD, Ph.D. and Matthias Gromeier, MD of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.

The Tisch Brain Tumor Center is featured again on 60 Minutes. A year ago, the news magazine introduced viewers to the  amazing work of the team behind the poliovirus therapy. The 2016 double segment reports several updates, including the news that the FDA granted breakthrough status to the treatment.

David Ashley, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, becomes director of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology for Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center (PRTBTC).

2017 marks the 80th anniversary of Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.

The inaugural Tee Off Against Brain Cancer raises more than $153,000 in support of brain tumor research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.

Duke scientists identify mutations in the majority of previously uncharacterized glioblastoma tumors, which are typically the most lethal. Published in Nature Communications on May 25, this discovery opens potential for new targeted therapies for patients with the worst prognosis.

A phase 1 trial developed by Duke Neurosurgery researchers shows significantly improved long-term survival for patients with recurrent glioblastoma using a genetically modified poliovirus. The therapy, developed by Matthias Gromeier, MD, delivers the virus directly into tumors, showing a three-year survival benefit of 21% compared to 4% with standard treatment.

On April 27, 2019, Angels Among Us celebrates 26 years and raises more than $2.1 million for brain tumor research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.

Zach Reitman, MD, PhD, joins Duke to further his research in enhancing the efficacy of radiation therapy for brain tumors and exploring single-cell genomics approaches.

On April 23, 2020, the third annual Tee Off Against Brain Cancer raises more than $677,000 to support research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.

Destination Hope is launched with funds raised through Tee Off Against Brain Cancer. The program removes barriers for pediatric patients by covering travel, lodging, and helping them access clinical trials at Duke without insurance-related delays.

On October 2, 2021, Angels Among Us raises more than $1.9 million for brain tumor research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.

Researchers at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke discover that glioblastoma tumors with fewer mutations are significantly more responsive to immunotherapy. Published in Nature Communications, the findings provide a predictive biomarker to guide treatment decisions.

Gerald Arthur Grant, MD, an internationally known surgeon-scientist, is named chair of the Duke Department of Neurosurgery, effective April 1, 2022.

On April 30, 2022, Angels Among Us raises more than $1.9 million for brain tumor research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke.

The 2023 Darell D. Bigner, MD, PhD Young Investigators Award is presented to Michael Brown, PhD.

On May 25, 2023, in recognition of Brain Tumor Awareness Month, the White House Cancer Moonshot hosts a Brain Cancers Forum with leaders from the field, including David Ashley, MD, PhD, and Henry Friedman, MD.

A Nature Cancer study co-authored by Peter Fecci, MD, PhD, and led by Emily Lerner, MD/PhD student, reveals how some previously unresponsive glioblastoma tumors can be targeted through a novel immunotherapy mechanism.

On April 20, 2023, Tee Off Against Pediatric Brain Cancer raises more than $2.4 million.

Ines Batinic-Haberle, PhD, develops BMX-001, a compound improving survival and reducing cognitive decline in patients with high-grade glioma. Katherine Peters, MD, PhD, leads the multi-institutional trial and presents the results at the Society for Neuro-oncology Annual Meeting.

Simon Gregory, PhD, is named the Margaret Harris and David Silverman Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery. He is director of BTOP and vice chair of research in the Department of Neurology.

Mustafa Khasraw, MD, leads the PuMP Trial, a phase 1 study of an oncolytic herpes simplex virus therapy for recurrent high-grade glioma. The trial is conducted via convection-enhanced delivery and represents a multidisciplinary collaboration at Duke.

The 2024 Tee Off Against Pediatric Brain Cancer raises more than $2.1 million to support pediatric research and Destination Hope.

The 2025 Tee Off Against Pediatric Brain Cancer raises more than $2.4 million to support pediatric brain tumor research and Destination Hope.