Seattle Children’s
Seattle, Washington, United States
Dr. Nick Vitanza is a pediatric neuro-oncologist and translational scientist dedicated to the care of children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors with a focus on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma, H3 K27M-altered (DMG), and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT). During a pediatric oncology fellowship at NYU with Drs. Elizabeth Raetz and Bill Carroll, his labwork led to a COG clinical trial and to an ASPHO’s Young Investigator Early Career award. Next, he completed a pediatric neuro-oncology fellowship at Stanford University followed by a post-doc in Dr. Michelle Monje’s neuroscience/DIPG Lab. In her lab, he helped to identify combinatorial epigenetically targeted drug strategies against DIPG (published in Cancer Cell) and provided the preclinical foundation for a phase 1 clinical trial. In 2016, he joined Seattle Children’s where he serves as the DIPG Research Lead directing an independent laboratory focused on combinatorial epigenetic and immunotherapeutic treatment regimens against pediatric CNS tumors. He also serves as the CNS CAR T cell Lead and has written, directed, and been Study Chair of four repeatedly dosed intracranially delivered CNS CAR T cell trials. This includes BrainChild-01 targeting HER2 (published in Nature Medicine 2021), BrainChild-02 targeting EGFR, BrainChild-03 targeting B7-H3 (published in Cancer Discovery 2023), and BrainChild-04 using quad-targeting CAR T cells. These trials have now enrolled nearly 100 patients and delivered 500 intracranial doses of CAR T cells. Ultimately, his focus is rapidly advancing novel therapeutics for children with fatal CNS tumors.
