Jonathan L. Finlay, MB, ChB, FRCP, will begin his appointment as director of Neuro-Oncology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital today. In addition to his appointment at Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Finlay will also be a tenured professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
He will lead an innovative approach to brain tumor treatment, for which he has served as principal investigator in a series of “Head Start” clinical trial protocols, the first three phases of which grew to include more than 40 institutions. The Head Start protocol will be a randomized clinical trial that will be hosted at and coordinated by Nationwide Children’s, with other treatment centers participating around the world. It will investigate a tailored radiotherapy-minimizing approach to the treatment of newly diagnosed malignant central nervous system tumors of young children through the use of clinical and molecular risk classifications.
Head Start will also be one of the first research endeavors to operate within the Nationwide Children’s McConnell NEXT Consortium, a collaborative research model for investigator-initiated studies that contribute to the early development of promising new therapies for childhood cancer and blood diseases.
“We are elated to welcome Dr. Finlay to Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” said Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD, division chief of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s and also a professor of pediatrics at The OSU College of Medicine. “Nationwide Children’s is poised to be an international destination for the care of pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with malignant brain and spinal cord tumors.”
Prior to coming to Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Finlay was the Director of the Neural Tumors Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and served as Professor of Pediatrics, Neurology & Neurological Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Between 1982 and 2003, he held faculty positions in Pediatric Oncology at Stanford University (1980-1982), University of Wisconsin-Madison (1982-1987), University of Pennsylvania (1987-1989), Cornell University/Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1989-1993) and New York University (1997-2003).
Dr. Finlay’s clinical interests include pediatric brain tumors with treatment strategies that avoid radiation therapy, medulloblastoma and other PNET, germ cell tumors, ependymoma, gliomas (low grade and high grade) and choroid plexus carcinomas. He is an internationally recognized expert in pediatric brain tumors and has authored or co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications in leading medical journals and over 80 review articles and book chapters.
“With Dr. Finlay’s leadership and the close collaboration of neuro-oncology with neurosurgery, neuropathology, neuroradiology and other important programs, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is now positioned to offer the most advanced care for pediatric central nervous system tumors with a true emphasis on quality of life, reduced side effects and better outcomes,” said Jeff Leonard, MD, chief of neurosurgery at Nationwide Children’s and faculty member at The OSU College of Medicine.
The Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s Hospital treats a full array of blood disorders, cancers, immune-deficiency disorders, bone marrow failure syndromes and inherited metabolic storage diseases. In addition to treatment, the division is committed to advancing both basic and clinical research in these areas. The division maintains active membership in the Children’s Oncology Group, the Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia Consortium, the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, and is a research member of the International Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry. Hematology/Oncology/BMT works hand-in-hand with the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s, directed by Peter Houghton, PhD, to expand the understanding of childhood cancer and to improve strategies for its diagnosis and treatment.
Note to editors: Dr. Finlay resides in Worthington, OH, 43085
Jonathan Finlay, MB, ChB, FRCP, will begin his appointment as director of Neuro-Oncology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.