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My hope is to ultimately find a cure for brain cancer. I have several patients out 5 to 10 years after their original diagnosis of glioblastoma, which is a disease with a prognosis of usually less than two years. Each year we celebrate our patient survivors and that is what makes working here at UCLA so worthwhile. —Linda M. Liau, MD, PhD, Director of the Brain Tumor Program at UCLA
inda M. Liau, MD, PhD, Vice Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Brain Tumor Program at UCLA, leads a multidisciplinary team of world-class neurosurgeons, neuroscientists, neuropathologists, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists, interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, geneticists, basic scientists and clinical scientists. The team is dedicated to the diagnosis, management and treatment of all types of brain tumors. They meet regularly to develop coordinated care that translates to optimal clinical outcomes and patients living longer than those treated at other centers. As world leaders in the treatment of brain tumors, our neurosurgeons utilize the most advanced technology in intra-operative imaging, awake craniotomy, minimally-invasive endoscopic surgery and non-invasive stereotactic radiosurgery.
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UCLA NEUROSURGERY: INTO THE BRAIN AND BEYOND
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The UCLA Brain Tumor Program is a model for other health care institutions nationwide. Dr. Liau’s record of achievement is impeccable as a principal recipient of four prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology. She has personally performed more than 1,000 brain tumor surgeries, and she and her colleagues at UCLA treat over 500 brain tumor patients each year. Dr. Liau collaborates with several other neurosurgeons who operate on brain tumors (Dr. Neil A. Martin, Dr. Marvin Bergsneider and Dr. Isaac Yang), as well as UCLA neuro-oncologists (Dr. Timothy Cloughesy, Dr. Albert Lai and Dr. Leia Nghiemphu), neuropathologists (Dr. William Yong and Dr. Harry Vinters), radiation oncologists (Dr. Tania Kaprealian), and neuroradiologists (Dr. Whitney Pope), in the hunt to better understand and treat these brain tumors.
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