The Brain Tumor Center of Excellence (BTCOE) is one of four Transformational Teams at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center (AHWFBCCC). The BTCOE is a comprehensive academic brain tumor program, established in 2003, led by Waldemar Debinski, MD, PhD.
Strong foundations in clinical care and research for brain tumor patients and growing interest in laboratory research facilitated the creation and growth of the BTCOE.Collaborative Brain Tumor Research
The BTCOE focuses on improving patient care through translational research to address the unmet needs of most brain tumors. This is achieved through collaboration among basic scientists, clinical researchers, and care providers. This multidisciplinary effort involves the AHWFBCCC research programs across both Winston Salem and Charlotte campuses. Research priorities are represented by the following thematic groups:
- Clinical Research
- Modulation of Treatment-Induced Brain Injury/Cognitive Impairment/Quality of Life
- Molecular Therapeutics
- Bio-Anatomic Imaging
- Pre-Clinical Models of Disease
- Brain Metastases
BTCOE focuses on improving patient care through translational research, since many brain tumors represent unmet needs in medicine. This goal is being realized in a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary academic environment that brings together basic scientists with clinical researchers and patient care providers to conduct translational brain tumor research—from the bench to the bedside and back to the bench.
The AHWFBCCC emphasizes collaboration and integration of diverse expertise for performing translational research and state-of-the-art scientific exploration.
In 2014, the research operations of the BTCOE were named the Thomas K. Hearn, Jr. Brain Tumor Research Center in honor of former Wake Forest University President Thomas K. Hearn Jr., PhD. Dr. Hearn, who served as president from 1983-2005, helped expand brain tumor research funding during his tenure. Sadly, he succumbed to a brain tumor and was treated at AHWFBCCC. As a grateful patient, he supported fundraising efforts for brain tumor research.
Researchers at the Hearn Brain Tumor Research Center focus on finding solutions that benefit patients with brain tumors by establishing several translational research priorities, including:
- Discovery and development of new molecular anti-brain tumor therapies and their combination with other treatment modalities (Molecular Therapeutics Group).
- Understanding how radiation or other treatments may cause brain injury and how improvement in the quality of life of patients undergoing various treatments can be achieved (Brain Metastases and Modulation of Treatment-induced Brain Injury/Quality of Life Group).
- Introduction of noninvasive means to image both normal brains and brain tumors at cellular and molecular levels, including damage evoked by and in response to treatment (Bioanatomic Imaging Group).
- Exploiting preclinical models offered by large animals, for example, dogs with spontaneous tumors or nonhuman primates, for studying cognitive functions (Pre-clinical Models of Disease Group, in continuously growing collaboration with Virginia Tech).
Research at the Hearn Brain Tumor Research Center is revolutionizing brain tumor management and treatment. Neuro-oncology at AHWFBCCC has been a leader in clinical research, participating in the first glioblastoma therapeutic trial and testing the GliaSite Radiation Therapy System, one of four new treatments approved for brain tumors in the last two decades. Dr. Stephen Tatter performed the first GliaSite procedure in the U.S. In 1999, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center introduced Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery to North Carolina. Dr. Ed Shaw co-led a study that found combination chemotherapy with radiation therapy improves survival rates for low-grade patients (New England Journal of Medicine, 2016). He received the Society for Neuro-Oncology Award in 2012 and served as its President from 2004-2006.
The BTCOE has been involved in national clinical trials sponsored through the Adult Brain Tumor Consortium, Children’s Oncology Group, American College of Surgical Oncology Group and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.
The Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Gamma Knife Center is one of the busiest in the country, treating patients from across the Southeast region with an experienced Gamma Knife treatment team. Gamma Knife radiosurgery has a success rate of nearly 90 percent for killing or shrinking brain tumors or stopping their growth. Gamma Knife treatment does not require anesthesia and does not cause pain. Treatment consists of only one session, and patients can resume normal activities almost immediately. The center has recently marked 15 years of work with Gamma-knife delivered therapies. Surgeons at Wake Forest have been performing Gamma Knife radiosurgery since 1999 and are among the few medical centers funded by the National Cancer Institute to conduct brain cancer research using innovative therapies. The current Leksell Gamma Knife® Perfexion™ machine is the most accurate and advanced radiosurgery technology available.