Imagine you are the parent of a healthy three-year-old boy. One morning, your son wakes up with a headache. The next morning your son has a headache and is vomiting. The morning headaches and vomiting continues. You call the pediatrician and make an appointment. The doctor examines your son and runs multiple tests. The headaches and vomiting persist and after several weeks the pediatrician orders a CT scan. The panic and fear overcomes you as the doctor tells you that your three-year-old son is suffering from a brain tumor.

According to the National Brain Tumor Foundation, approximately 2,200 children are diagnosed with a brain tumor every year. Of those 2,200 children, half will die within five years. There are many types of pediatric brain tumors. Prognosis depends on the type of brain tumor, its location within the brain, the extent in which it has spread and the age and general health of the child. Currently, there are three treatments for pediatric brain tumors: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Surgery removes the tumor, radiation administers high doses of x-rays to kill the tumor cells, and chemotherapy uses drugs to kill tumor cells. Depending on the patient’s experience doctors may use more than one of these treatments at the same time to help increase their chances for survival.

Ian Pollack, MD, has made a lifelong commitment to continuing the fight against pediatric brain tumors. His early interest in the function of the brain and surgical techniques progressed his academic career into the field of neurosurgery. He was intrigued by the different disciplines available in the area of pediatrics. After graduating magna cum laude from Emory University in 1980, Dr. Pollack went on to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his surgical internship and neurosurgical residency at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

In 1991, Dr. Pollack was awarded the William P. Van Wagenen Scholarship by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). This fellowship afforded him a year of subspecialty training in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, the Neuro-Oncology Laboratory of the University of Lausane in Switzerland and the Laboratory of Tumor Biology of the University of Uppsala in Sweden.

With little research being done at the time on children with brain tumors, Dr. Pollack applied for the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundations (NREF) Young Clinician Investigator Award. Peter Jannetta, MD, Professor and Chairman at the University of Pittsburgh in October 1991, had this to say about Dr. Pollack, “Ian is a spectacular young man who is far beyond his level in talent, expertise and accomplishment. He is an excellent investigator. From my own personal standpoint, I feel that his clinical research in brain tumors is the best that is being done in this country.”

In 1992, Dr. Pollack was awarded the NREF Young Clinician Investigator Award for his research project entitled “The Role of Growth Factor Pathways in the Proliferation of Pediatric Brain Tumors.” The research study provided pilot funding for investigation into the mechanisms underlying the growth properties of malignant brain tumors in children.

Dr. Pollack’s primary research interests continue to focus on identifying and evaluating innovative strategies for treating malignant brain tumors, improving the treatment of children with brain tumors and optimizing the management of childhood craniofacial disorders.

The University of Pittsburgh recently honored Ian Pollack, MD with installation as the Walter Dandy Professor. Dr. Pollack is co-director of the Brain Tumor Center of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In addition to being the co-author of the recently published book, Principles and Practices of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Dr. Pollack has more than 170 publications on a variety of neurosurgery topics and has edited two monographs on childhood brain tumors.

For this interview, Dr. Pollack was asked what he would like to say to past, present and future supporters of NREF. He replied, “NREF fellowships are one of a kind, critical award that enable junior facility to establish research and bridge experience towards future National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.” Today, through the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Pollack continues his fight against pediatric brain tumors. He is currently the recipient of three NIH grants totaling over nine million dollars.

We applaud Dr. Pollack for his continued research and his remarkable dedication to improving the treatment of children with brain tumors and craniofacial disorders. In addition, we thank and applaud all of the contributors to NREF who have given Dr. Pollack and many others the critical foundation needed to move forward in the fight against neurosurgical diseases and disorders.