Research Summary

Dr. Butowski specializes in novel therapeutic approaches to brain tumors, clinical trials, neuro-imaging, cognitive and rehabilitative neurology, medical education, and complementary therapy. His ultimate research goal is to develop novel and effective therapeutic strategies for the treatment of patients with primary brain tumors. The most direct research application is the design and conduct of phase I, II, and III clinical trials though federal, state, and industry supported grants. 


As a member of the Brain Tumor Research Center at UCSF, his research goals also include the evaluation of preclincial models, novel imaging techniques and molecular profiling methods that may influence the selection of patients for treatment. His research interests also include methods and/or treatments to ensure good quality of life for patients with brain tumors and methods and/or treatments that may assist patients in recovering from or coping with brain injury. The majority of his clinical activities involve the assessment and management of adult patients with primary brain  and spine tumors.

Research Funding

  • September 10, 2021 - August 31, 2026 - Advancing treatment and understanding of immunotherapy in glioblastoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U19CA264338
  • April 1, 2014 - March 31, 2017 - A Phase I Study of CED of Liposomal-Irinotecan using imaging in High Grade Glioma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21CA186140

Education

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, BA, 1991-1995, Philosophy/Religion
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, MD, 1995-1999
Evanston-Northwestern Hospital, Evanston, IL, Surgical Intern, 1999-2000
UCSF Department of Neurology, Resident, 2000-2003
UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery, Neuro-Oncology Fellow, 2003-2004

Honors & Awards

  • 2017 SNO Board of Directors, Member, SNO
  • 2016 Marin Top Doctors, Marin Magazine
  • 2013 Essential Core Teaching Award, UCSF
  • 2008 - 2013 UCSF Voice of the Patient Award (Press Ganey award for excellence in patient care per division)
  • 1998 General Assembly State Scholarship, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

Selected Publications

  1. Sampson JH, Singh Achrol A, Aghi MK, Bankiewiecz K, Bexon M, Brem S, Brenner A, Chandhasin C, Chowdhary S, Coello M, Ellingson BM, Floyd JR, Han S, Kesari S, Mardor Y, Merchant F, Merchant N, Randazzo D, Vogelbaum M, Vrionis F, Wembacher-Schroeder E, Zabek M, Butowski N. Targeting the IL4 Receptor with MDNA55 in Patients with Recurrent Glioblastoma: Results of a Phase 2b Trial. Neuro Oncol. 2023 Jan 14.  View on PubMed
  2. Omuro A, Brandes AA, Carpentier AF, Idbaih A, Reardon DA, Cloughesy T, Sumrall A, Baehring J, van den Bent M, B?hr O, Lombardi G, Mulholland P, Tabatabai G, Lassen U, Sepulveda JM, Khasraw M, Vauleon E, Muragaki Y, Di Giacomo AM, Butowski N, Roth P, Qian X, Fu AZ, Liu Y, Potter V, Chalamandaris AG, Tatsuoka K, Lim M, Weller M. Radiotherapy combined with nivolumab or temozolomide for newly diagnosed glioblastoma with unmethylated MGMT promoter: An international randomized phase III trial. Neuro Oncol. 2023 01 05; 25(1):123-134.  View on PubMed
  3. Hervey-Jumper SL, Zhang Y, Phillips JJ, Morshed RA, Young JS, McCoy L, Lafontaine M, Luks T, Ammanuel S, Kakaizada S, Egladyous A, Gogos A, Villanueva-Meyer J, Shai A, Warrier G, Rice T, Crane J, Wrensch M, Wiencke JK, Daras M, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Butowski N, Clarke J, Chang S, Chang E, Aghi M, Theodosopoulos P, McDermott M, Jakola AS, Kavouridis VK, Nawabi N, Solheim O, Smith T, Berger MS, Molinaro AM. Interactive Effects of Molecular, Therapeutic, and Patient Factors on Outcome of Diffuse Low-Grade Glioma. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Jan 04; JCO2102929.  View on PubMed
  4. Wang EJ, Haddad AF, Young JS, Morshed RA, Wu JPH, Salha DM, Butowski N, Aghi MK. Recent advances in the molecular prognostication of meningiomas. Front Oncol. 2022; 12:910199.  View on PubMed
  5. Horbinski C, Nabors LB, Portnow J, Baehring J, Bhatia A, Bloch O, Brem S, Butowski N, Cannon DM, Chao S, Chheda MG, Fabiano AJ, Forsyth P, Gigilio P, Hattangadi-Gluth J, Holdhoff M, Junck L, Kaley T, Merrell R, Mrugala MM, Nagpal S, Nedzi LA, Nevel K, Nghiemphu PL, Parney I, Patel TR, Peters K, Puduvalli VK, Rockhill J, Rusthoven C, Shonka N, Swinnen LJ, Weiss S, Wen PY, Willmarth NE, Bergman MA, Darlow S. NCCN Guidelines� Insights: Central Nervous System Cancers, Version 2.2022. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2023 01; 21(1):12-20.  View on PubMed
  6. Rodriguez-Almaraz JE, Butowski N. Therapeutic and Supportive Effects of Cannabinoids in Patients with Brain Tumors (CBD Oil and Cannabis). Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2023 Jan; 24(1):30-44.  View on PubMed
  7. Haddad AF, Aghi MK, Butowski N. Novel intraoperative strategies for enhancing tumor control: Future directions. Neuro Oncol. 2022 11 02; 24(Suppl 6):S25-S32.  View on PubMed
  8. Zhang Y, Lucas CG, Young JS, Morshed RA, McCoy L, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Daras M, Butowski NA, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Cha S, Wrensch M, Wiencke JK, Lee JC, Pekmezci M, Phillips JJ, Perry A, Bollen AW, Aghi MK, Theodosopoulos P, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS, Clarke JL, Chang SM, Molinaro AM, Solomon DA. Prospective genomically guided identification of "early/evolving" and "undersampled" IDH-wildtype glioblastoma leads to improved clinical outcomes. Neuro Oncol. 2022 10 03; 24(10):1749-1762.  View on PubMed
  9. Lucas CG, Sloan EA, Gupta R, Wu J, Pratt D, Vasudevan HN, Ravindranathan A, Barreto J, Williams EA, Shai A, Whipple NS, Bruggers CS, Maher O, Nabors B, Rodriguez M, Samuel D, Brown M, Carmichael J, Lu R, Mirchia K, Sullivan DV, Pekmezci M, Tihan T, Bollen AW, Perry A, Banerjee A, Mueller S, Gupta N, Hervey-Jumper SL, Oberheim Bush NA, Daras M, Taylor JW, Butowski NA, de Groot J, Clarke JL, Raleigh DR, Costello JF, Phillips JJ, Reddy AT, Chang SM, Berger MS, Solomon DA. Multiplatform molecular analyses refine classification of gliomas arising in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. Acta Neuropathol. 2022 10; 144(4):747-765.  View on PubMed
  10. Young JS, Kidwell RL, Zheng A, Haddad AF, Aghi MK, Raleigh DR, Schulte JD, Butowski NA. CDK 4/6 inhibitors for the treatment of meningioma. Front Oncol. 2022; 12:931371.  View on PubMed
  11. Vasudevan HN, Choudhury A, Hilz S, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Chen WC, Lucas CG, Braunstein SE, Oberheim Bush NA, Butowski N, Pekmezci M, McDermott MW, Perry A, Solomon DA, Magill ST, Raleigh DR. Intratumor and informatic heterogeneity influence meningioma molecular classification. Acta Neuropathol. 2022 09; 144(3):579-583.  View on PubMed
  12. Lassman AB, Sep?lveda-S?nchez JM, Cloughesy TF, Gil-Gil MJ, Puduvalli VK, Raizer JJ, De Vos FYF, Wen PY, Butowski NA, Clement PMJ, Groves MD, Belda-Iniesta C, Giglio P, Soifer HS, Rowsey S, Xu C, Avogadri F, Wei G, Moran S, Roth P. Infigratinib in Patients with Recurrent Gliomas and FGFR Alterations: A Multicenter Phase II Study. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 06 01; 28(11):2270-2277.  View on PubMed
  13. Choudhury A, Magill ST, Eaton CD, Prager BC, Chen WC, Cady MA, Seo K, Lucas CG, Casey-Clyde TJ, Vasudevan HN, Liu SJ, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Lam TC, Pu JK, Li LF, Leung GK, Swaney DL, Zhang MY, Chan JW, Qiu Z, Martin MV, Susko MS, Braunstein SE, Bush NAO, Schulte JD, Butowski N, Sneed PK, Berger MS, Krogan NJ, Perry A, Phillips JJ, Solomon DA, Costello JF, McDermott MW, Rich JN, Raleigh DR. Meningioma DNA methylation groups identify biological drivers and therapeutic vulnerabilities. Nat Genet. 2022 05; 54(5):649-659.  View on PubMed
  14. Galanis E, Anderson SK, Twohy E, Butowski NA, Hormigo A, Schiff D, Omuro A, Jaeckle KA, Kumar S, Kaufmann TJ, Geyer S, Kumthekar PU, Campian J, Giannini C, Buckner JC, Wen PY. Phase I/randomized phase II trial of TRC105 plus bevacizumab versus bevacizumab in recurrent glioblastoma: North Central Cancer Treatment Group N1174 (Alliance). Neurooncol Adv. 2022 Jan-Dec; 4(1):vdac041.  View on PubMed
  15. Omuro A, Reardon DA, Sampson JH, Baehring J, Sahebjam S, Cloughesy TF, Chalamandaris AG, Potter V, Butowski N, Lim M. Nivolumab plus radiotherapy with or without temozolomide in newly diagnosed glioblastoma: Results from exploratory phase I cohorts of CheckMate 143. Neurooncol Adv. 2022 Jan-Dec; 4(1):vdac025.  View on PubMed
  16. Ogino H, Taylor JW, Nejo T, Gibson D, Watchmaker PB, Okada K, Saijo A, Tedesco MR, Shai A, Wong CM, Rabbitt JE, Olin MR, Moertel CL, Nishioka Y, Salazar AM, Molinaro AM, Phillips JJ, Butowski NA, Clarke JL, Oberheim Bush NA, Hervey-Jumper SL, Theodosopoulos P, Chang SM, Berger MS, Okada H. Randomized trial of neoadjuvant vaccination with tumor-cell lysate induces T cell response in low-grade gliomas. J Clin Invest. 2022 02 01; 132(3).  View on PubMed
  17. Aabedi AA, Young JS, Zhang Y, Ammanuel S, Morshed RA, Dalle Ore C, Brown D, Phillips JJ, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Butowski N, Clarke J, Chang SM, Aghi M, Molinaro AM, Berger MS, Hervey-Jumper SL. Association of Neurological Impairment on the Relative Benefit of Maximal Extent of Resection in Chemoradiation-Treated Newly Diagnosed Isocitrate Dehydrogenase Wild-Type Glioblastoma. Neurosurgery. 2022 01 01; 90(1):124-130.  View on PubMed
  18. Yu Y, Villanueva-Meyer J, Grimmer MR, Hilz S, Solomon DA, Choi S, Wahl M, Mazor T, Hong C, Shai A, Phillips JJ, Wainer BH, McDermott M, Haas-Kogan D, Taylor JW, Butowski N, Clarke JL, Berger MS, Molinaro AM, Chang SM, Costello JF, Oberheim Bush NA. Temozolomide-induced hypermutation is associated with distant recurrence and reduced survival after high-grade transformation of low-grade IDH-mutant gliomas. Neuro Oncol. 2021 11 02; 23(11):1872-1884.  View on PubMed
  19. Haddad AF, Young JS, Amara D, Berger MS, Raleigh DR, Aghi MK, Butowski NA. Mouse models of glioblastoma for the evaluation of novel therapeutic strategies. Neurooncol Adv. 2021 Jan-Dec; 3(1):vdab100.  View on PubMed
  20. Ellingson BM, Patel K, Wang C, Raymond C, Brenner A, de Groot JF, Butowski NA, Zach L, Campian JL, Schlossman J, Rizvi S, Cohen YC, Lowenton-Spier N, Minei TR, Shmueli SF, Wen PY, Cloughesy TF. Validation of diffusion MRI as a biomarker for efficacy using randomized phase III trial of bevacizumab with or without VB-111 in recurrent glioblastoma. Neurooncol Adv. 2021 Jan-Dec; 3(1):vdab082.  View on PubMed

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