PUDUVALLI IS NEW DIRECTOR OF DIVISION OF NEURO-ONCOLOGY

Vinay K. Puduvalli, MD, has been recruited from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as professor and director of the Division of Neuro-Oncology in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Ohio State’s College of Medicine. Puduvalli is an authority on developing therapies for patients with primary brain tumors – specifically malignant glioma.

His appointment was announced by OSUCCC Director and James CEO Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, and Russell Lonser, MD, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery, which contains the Division of Neuro-Oncology. At MD Anderson, Puduvalli was a professor and director of clinical research in the Department of Neuro-Oncology. Before that, he directed the neuro-oncology fellowship program at MD Anderson.

Puduvalli has expertise in developing treatments for brain and spine malignancies using a combined approach of targeted therapies, innovative clinical trial designs and rational combinations of anticancer agents. His clinical expertise includes care of patients with brain and spine malignancies, as well as neurological complications of cancer. 

In addition, he has a laboratory program focused on understanding the role of epigenetics in brain tumor and glioma stem cell biology, and translating these findings to new treatment options. His lab team also works to identify ways to accelerate apoptosis (tumor cell death) by activating death pathways in brain tumors. In this context, he is leading several clinical trials involving epigenetic therapies and novel targeted agents.

Puduvalli earned his MD at Bangalore Medical College in Bangalore, India, in 1989. He then completed a residency in neurology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston and a fellowship in neuro-oncology at MD Anderson before joining the faculty there in 1998. He has been certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology since 1999.

As director of the Division of Neuro-Oncology, Puduvalli is assuming a post formerly held by Herbert Newton, MD. Caligiuri and Lonser thanked Newton “for his long and outstanding service as director of the Division and for his efforts in building the Neuro-Oncology program at Ohio State and putting it on the national map.”

They said Newton will continue in his current position as professor in the Division and will focus on clinical care and academic activities. “He also will continue to provide valuable advice and input into growth of the Division academically and clinically,” they added.

“With his wealth of experience and success in cancer patient care, clinical trials, and basic and translational research,” Caligiuri and Lonser said, “Dr. Puduvalli is an outstanding addition to our faculty and shares our vision of creating a cancer-free world.”