Robyn Gartrell

Glioma is responsible for more childhood deaths and the greatest number of years of potential life lost than any other type of cancer. Despite advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, pediatric supratentorial high grade gliomas (pHGG) including anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma (GBM) are among the most aggressive of these tumors and confer a 2 year survival rate of only ~10-30%. On the contrary, pediatric supratentorial low grade gliomas (pLGG) require less aggressive therapy and are less likely to recur though can be very debilitating with high morbidity. It is imperative that we discover how best to use new therapies for these devastating diseases.