Research Summary

Dr. Berger's main clinical interests are the treatment of brain tumors in adults and children and of epilepsy related to brain tumors. He has extensive expertise in intraoperative mapping of the brain to identify the sites of motor, sensory, and language function and thereby avoid their involvement or injury during surgery.

Dr. Berger is Director of the Neuro-Oncology Surgery Program. His current research interests involve identifying molecular markers in gliomas as correlates of tumor progression and prognosis. He also works in conjunction with Dr. Krys Bankiewicz to test small molecule inhibitors in brain tumors using convection enhanced delivery. Other collaborations include functional mapping localization of language pathways in the brain in conjunction with Dr. Robert Knight and the Cognitive Neuroscience Graduate Program at UC Berkeley. Dr. Berger is currently the Principal Investigator of UCSF's SPORE Brain Tumor Program. He is also the Principal Investigator of a Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute award to study the origins and treatment of pediatric brain tumors. "

Research Funding

  • September 20, 2002 - August 31, 2023 - Brain Tumor SPORE Grant, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: P50CA097257
  • July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2013 - Noninvasive Metabolic Signatures to Improve Management of Molecular Subtypes of Glioma, Co-Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: P01CA118816
  • August 5, 1999 - September 29, 2012 - Cancer Center Support Grant, Co-Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: P30CA082103
  • April 1, 1979 - February 28, 2007 - PROGRAMS FOR TREATMENT OF MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMORS, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NINDS, Sponsor Award ID: P01NS042927

Education

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, A.B., 1975, Social Psychology
University of Miami, Miami, FL, M.D., 1979, Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, CA (UCSF), Dept. of Neurological Surgery, Brain Tumor Research Center (BTRC) Research Fellow 1983 - 1984 Neurosurgery
UCSF, BTRC, Neuro-Oncology Service, Clinical Fellow, 7/85 - 12/85, Neurosurgery
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Pediatric Neurosurgery Fellow, 1/86 - 6/86, Neurosurgery

Honors & Awards

  • 1997-Present
    Joint Section on Tumors Advisory Council, American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons
  • 1997-1999
    Vice-President, Congress of Neurological Surgeons; President, Society for Neuro-Oncology
  • 2002-Present
    America’s Top Doctors, peer-nominated referral index from Castle Connolly
  • 2006
    Tumor Section, 2006 Ronald L. Bittner Lecturer; 2006 Farber Award Winner
  • 2007–Present
    Board of Directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons
  • 2007–Present
    Member of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons
  • 2010
    Vice-President, American Association of Neurological Surgeons
  • 2011
    President Elect, American Association of Neurological Surgeons
  • 2012
    President, American Association of Neurological Surgeons

Selected Publications

  1. De Witt Hamer PC, De Witt Hamer PC, Klein M, Hervey-Jumper SL, Wefel JS, Berger MS Functional Outcomes and Health-Related Quality of Life Following Glioma Surgery.  View on PubMed
  2. Gerritsen JKW, Broekman MLD, De Vleeschouwer S, Schucht P, Nahed BV, Berger MS, Vincent AJPE Letter: The European and North American Consortium and Registry for Intraoperative Stimulation Mapping: Framework for a Transatlantic Collaborative Research Initiative.  View on PubMed
  3. Young JS, Gogos AJ, Pereira MP, Morshed RA, Li J, Barkovich MJ, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS Effects of ventricular entry on patient outcome during glioblastoma resection.  View on PubMed
  4. Fan JM, Gorno-Tempini ML, Dronkers NF, Miller BL, Berger MS, Chang EF Data-Driven, Visual Framework for the Characterization of Aphasias Across Stroke, Post-resective, and Neurodegenerative Disorders Over Time.  View on PubMed
  5. Morshed RA, Young JS, Kroliczek AA, Berger MS, Brang D, Hervey-Jumper SL A Neurosurgeon's Guide to Cognitive Dysfunction in Adult Glioma.  View on PubMed
  6. Morshed RA, Young JS, Lee AT, Berger MS, Hervey-Jumper SL Clinical Pearls and Methods for Intraoperative Awake Language Mapping.  View on PubMed
  7. Muster RH, Young JS, Woo PYM, Morshed RA, Warrier G, Kakaizada S, Molinaro AM, Berger MS, Hervey-Jumper SL The Relationship Between Stimulation Current and Functional Site Localization During Brain Mapping.  View on PubMed
  8. Mathur R, Zhang Y, Grimmer MR, Hong C, Zhang M, Bollam S, Petrecca K, Clarke J, Berger MS, Phillips JJ, Oberheim-Bush NA, Molinaro AM, Chang SM, Costello JF MGMT promoter methylation level in newly diagnosed low-grade glioma is a predictor of hypermutation at recurrence.  View on PubMed
  9. Sloan EA, Chiang J, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Alexandrescu S, Eschbacher JM, Wang W, Mafra M, Ud Din N, Carr-Boyd E, Watson M, Punsoni M, Oviedo A, Gilani A, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, Coss DJ, Lopes MB, Raffel C, Berger MS, Chang S, Reddy A, Ramani B, Ferris SP, Lee JC, Hofmann JW, Cho SJ, Horvai AE, Pekmezci M, Tihan T, Bollen AW, Rodriguez F, Ellison DW, Perry A, Solomon DA Intracranial mesenchymal tumor with FET-CREB fusion - a unifying diagnosis for the spectrum of intracranial myxoid mesenchymal tumors and angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma-like neoplasms.  View on PubMed
  10. Schulte JD, Buerki RA, Lapointe S, Molinaro AM, Zhang Y, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Perry A, Phillips JJ, Tihan T, Bollen AW, Pekmezci M, Butowski N, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Chang SM, Theodosopoulos P, Aghi MK, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS, Solomon DA, Clarke JL Clinical, radiologic, and genetic characteristics of histone H3 K27M-mutant diffuse midline gliomas in adults.  View on PubMed
  11. Pascual JSG, Omar AT, Gaddi MJS, Iglesias RJO, Ignacio KHD, Jose GRB, Berger MS, Legaspi GD Awake Craniotomy in Low-Resource Settings: Findings from a Retrospective Cohort in the Philippines.  View on PubMed
  12. Cluceru J, Nelson SJ, Wen Q, Phillips JJ, Shai A, Molinaro AM, Alcaide-Leon P, Olson MP, Nair D, LaFontaine M, Chunduru P, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Cha S, Chang SM, Berger MS, Lupo JM Recurrent tumor and treatment-induced effects have different MR signatures in contrast enhancing and non-enhancing lesions of high-grade gliomas.  View on PubMed
  13. Mummaneni PV, Burke JF, Chan AK, Sosa JA, Lobo EP, Mummaneni VP, Antrum S, Berven SH, Conte MS, Doernberg SB, Goldberg AN, Hess CP, Hetts SW, Josephson SA, Kohi MP, Ma CB, Mahadevan VS, Molinaro AM, Murr AH, Narayana S, Roberts JP, Stoller ML, Theodosopoulos PV, Vail TP, Wienholz S, Gropper MA, Green A, Berger MS Consensus-based perioperative protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.  View on PubMed
  14. Gogos AJ, Young JS, Pereira MP, Morshed RA, Potts MB, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS Surgical management of incidentally discovered low-grade gliomas.  View on PubMed
  15. Magill ST, Vasudevan HN, Seo K, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Choudhury A, John Liu S, Pekmezci M, Findakly S, Hilz S, Lastella S, Demaree B, Braunstein SE, Bush NAO, Aghi MK, Theodosopoulos PV, Sneed PK, Abate AR, Berger MS, McDermott MW, Lim DA, Ullian EM, Costello JF, Raleigh DR Multiplatform genomic profiling and magnetic resonance imaging identify mechanisms underlying intratumor heterogeneity in meningioma.  View on PubMed
  16. Zhang JJY, Lee KS, Voisin MR, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS, Zadeh G Awake craniotomy for resection of supratentorial glioblastoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  View on PubMed
  17. Magill ST, Rubio RR, Berger MS Principles of Supplemental Motor Area and Cingulate Tumor Resection With Asleep Trimodal Motor Mapping: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.  View on PubMed
  18. Ramani B, Gupta R, Wu J, Barreto J, Bollen AW, Tihan T, Mummaneni PV, Ames C, Clark A, Oberheim Bush NA, Butowski N, Phillips D, King BE, Bator SM, Treynor EC, Zherebitskiy V, Quinn PS, Walker JB, Pekmezci M, Sullivan DV, Hofmann JW, Sloan EA, M Chang S, Berger MS, Solomon DA, Perry A The immunohistochemical, DNA methylation, and chromosomal copy number profile of cauda equina paraganglioma is distinct from extra-spinal paraganglioma.  View on PubMed
  19. Burke JF, Chan AK, Mummaneni V, Chou D, Lobo EP, Berger MS, Theodosopoulos P, Mummaneni PV In Reply: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 Global Pandemic: A Neurosurgical Treatment Algorithm.  View on PubMed
  20. Yue JK, Phelps RRL, Chandra A, Winkler EA, Manley GT, Berger MS Sideline Concussion Assessment: The Current State of the Art.  View on PubMed

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