Cheng-Chia “Fred” Wu, a physician-scientist who treats brain tumors in children, has joined Virginia Tech to bring his expertise in focused ultrasound cancer research to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion.
Wu will focus on advancing the use of low-intensity, focused ultrasound to treat pediatric brain tumors through his work at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke and at Children’s National Brain Tumor Institute at its Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, DC.
Wu aims to leverage technological advances being made in low-intensity focused ultrasound at Virginia Tech labs with patient clinical trial expertise at Children’s National to improve cancer care.
“I’m excited that Children’s National and Virginia Tech have invested in focused ultrasound and both are recognized independently by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation as centers of excellence,” Wu, assistant professor of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, said in a statement. “Partnering with Children’s National connects us to a world-class clinical trial institute that has been a pioneer in treating brain tumors with focused ultrasound technology, and this presents a unique opportunity to help children and families struggling with cancer. I’m also excited by the community health conversations I’ve been having with physicians at Children’s National, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and Carilion Clinic. I can’t wait to see where this takes us.”
Wu will also work with collaborators with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, the College of Engineering, and the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine’s Animal Cancer Care and Research Center.
Before joining Virginia Tech, Wu was an assistant professor of radiation oncology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he treated pediatric cancers and central nervous system malignancies in a clinical role alongside leading a research laboratory.
He played a key role in the Initiative for Drug Delivery Innovation for Childhood Brain Tumors at Columbia, developing a bench-to-bedside platform to facilitate the translation of promising technologies for targeted drug delivery in children with brain tumors.
Within three years, the team demonstrated safety and feasibility of using focused ultrasound to treat cancer in the brain stem, as well as adding radiation, in preclinical models. They opened two clinical trials for kids with relapsed diffuse midline glioma, which is a type of aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain tumor that occurs in the brain stem, thalamus, and spinal cord.
“Dr. Wu is a great fit for the team research underway at Virginia Tech and Children’s National,” Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and Virginia Tech vice president for health sciences and technology, said in a statement. “His experience as a pediatric radiation oncologist, translational physician scientist, and a clinical trialist leading an innovative drug delivery program gives him a unique set of skills to identify promising new technology and implement it in areas of need for treatment of pediatric cancers. In addition, we can actively start thinking about possibilities to integrate focused ultrasound in community health settings with Carilion Clinic and Children’s National.”
Wu is also a faculty member of the Department of Internal Medicine of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine with an affiliated appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics.
