Mitchel S. Berger MD

Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurological Surgery

Kathleen M. Plant Distinguished Professor

Director, Brain Tumor Surgery Program

Director, Neurosurgical Research Centers, Brain Tumor Research Center

UCSF Neurological Surgery Faculty since 1997

Dr. Berger's main clinical interests are the treatment of brain and spinal cord 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 Adult Hydrocephalus and Shunt Program, and he also practices in the Neuro-Oncology Program and the Radiosurgery Program.

His current research interests involve identifying molecular markers in gliomas as correlates of tumor progression and prognosis. This is done in conjunction with the Molecular Marker Core of the BTRC. He also works in conjunction with Dr. Krys Bankiewicz to test small molecule inhibitors in brain tumors using the drug delivery technique of convection enhanced delivery. He is a co-investigator with Dr. John Park in UCSF's Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop immunoliposome-directed targeted therapy for treating gliomas that express EGF receptors. 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 and the BTRC's Program Project Grant in Neuro-Oncology, both of which are funded by the National Cancer Institute and NINDS.

Education, Training, and Previous Positions

1974: BA, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1979: MD, University of Miami School of Medicine

1979-1980: Internship, UCSF

1980-1985: Residency in Neurological Surgery, UCSF

1985: Clinical Fellowship in Neuro-oncology, Brain Tumor Research Center at UCSF

1986: Fellowship in Pediatric Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital for Sick Children of the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1986: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle/Concomitant appointments as Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgical Oncology at the Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle and Chief of the Northwest Neuro-Oncology Research & Therapy Section at the University of Washington

1990: Associate Professor at the University of Washington

1996: Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Washington

Selected Professional Memberships and Appointments

Board of Directors, American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)

American Academy of Neurological Surgery

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for Cancer Research

American College of Surgeons

American Society of Clinical Oncology

American Society of Gene Therapy

American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery

California Association of Neurological Surgeons

Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS)

Joint Tumor Section, AANS and CNS National Tuberous Sclerosis Association

Neurosurgical Society of American

Pediatric Section, AANS and CNS

San Francisco Medical Society

Society of Neurological Surgeons

Society for Neuro-Oncology

Society of Surgical Oncology

Vanderbilt Meacham Society

World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies

Medical Advisor, North American Brain Tumor Coalition

Executive Council, American Brain Tumor Association

Advisory Council, National Brain Tumor Foundation

Editorial board: The American Journal of Neuroradiology

Editorial board: The Journal of Neuro-Oncology

Editorial board: Journal of Neurosurgery

Editorial board: Neuro-Oncology

Editorial board: Neurosurgery

Editorial board: Operative Neurosurgery

Editorial board: Techniques in Neurosurgery

Selected Honors and Awards

1979: Lange Medical Publishing Company Medical Student Award for Outstanding Academic Performance, University of Miami School of Medicine

1979: Alpha Omega Alpha Award for Best Patient-Student Physician Relationship During Clinical Clerkships, University of Miami School of Medicine

1983: Donald Matson Award in Pediatric Neurosurgical Research from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)

1991: Diplomate of the American Board of Neurological Surgery

1993: Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS)

1994: Appointed to the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons

1997: President of the Society for Neuro-Oncology

1997-1998: Vice President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons

1997-present: Director of the Brain Tumor Research Center, UCSF

1999: Appointment to the Board of Directors of the California Division of the American Cancer Society (ACS)

2002-present: America's Top Doctors, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.

2004: UCSF Medical Center THANKS Star Award for exceptional contribution

2005-2006: Appointed Chairman of the Scientific Program Committee, AANS Annual Meeting

2006: Ronald L. Bittner Lecturer, Tumor Section, AANS Annual Meeting

2006: Farber Award, AANS Annual Meeting

2006: Jeannette and Bernard S. Post MD Endowed Lecturer, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

2006: UCSF Medical Center THANKS Star Award for exceptional contribution

2007: Appointed to Directorship, American Board of Neurological Surgeons

2009: Winn Prize, Society of Neurological Surgeons

Selected Recent Publications

Books

Bernstein M, Berger MS (eds): Neuro-Oncology: The Essentials, Second Edition. Thieme, New York, 2007, In Press.

Bernstein M, Berger MS (eds): Neuro-Oncology: The Essentials. Thieme, New York, 2000, 528 pp.

Berger MS, Wilson CD (eds): The Gliomas. WB Saunders, Philadelphia, 1998, 796 pp.

Berger MS (guest ed): Neurosurgery Clinics of North America, Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (vol 3, no 4). WB Saunders, Philadelphia, October 1992.

Articles

Wrensch M, Jenkins RB, Chang JS, Yeh RF, Xiao Y, Decker PA, Ballman KV, Berger M, Buckner JC, Chang S, Giannini C, Halder C, Kollmeyer TM, Kosel ML, LaChance DH, McCoy L, O'Neill BP, Patoka J, Pico AR, Prados M, Quesenberry C, Rice T, Rynearson AL, Smirnov I, Tihan T, Wiemels J, Yang P, Wiencke JK. Variants in the CDKN2B and RTEL1 regions are associated with high-grade glioma susceptibility. Nat Genet 2009;41(8):905-8.

Chang SM, Nelson S, Vandenberg S, Cha S, Prados M, Butowski N, McDermott M, Parsa AT, Aghi M, Clarke J, Berger M. Integration of preoperative anatomic and metabolic physiologic imaging of newly diagnosed glioma. J Neurooncol 2009;92(3):401-15.

Chang EF, Clark A, Jensen RL, Bernstein M, Guha A, Carrabba G, Mukhopadhyay D, Kim W, Liau LM, Chang SM, Smith JS, Berger MS, McDermott MW. Multiinstitutional validation of the University of California at San Francisco Low-Grade Glioma Prognostic Scoring System. J Neurosurg 2009;111(2):203-10.

Hodgson JG, Yeh RF, Ray A, Wang NJ, Smirnov I, Yu M, Hariono S, Silber J, Feiler HS, Gray JW, Spellman PT, Vandenberg SR, Berger MS, James CD. Comparative analyses of gene copy number and mRNA expression in GBM tumors and GBM xenografts [published online ahead of print January 12, 2009]. Neuro Oncol. doi: 10.1215/15228517-2008-113.

Dinca EB, Lu KV, Sarkaria JN, Pieper RO, Prados MD, Haas-Kogan DA, Vandenberg SR, Berger MS, James CD. p53 Small-molecule inhibitor enhances temozolomide cytotoxic activity against intracranial glioblastoma xenografts. Cancer Res 2008;68(24):10034-9.

Nagarajan S, Kirsch H, Lin P, Findlay A, Honma S, Berger MS. Preoperative localization of hand motor cortex by adaptive spatial filtering of magnetoencephalography data. J Neurosurg 2008;109(2):228-37.

Chang EF, Smith JS, Chang SM, Lamborn KR, Prados MD, Butowski N, Barbaro NM, Parsa AT, Berger MS, McDermott MM. Preoperative prognostic classification system for hemispheric low-grade gliomas in adults. J Neurosurg. 2008 Nov;109(5):817-24.

Sanai N, Berger MS. Glioma Extent of Resection and Its Impact on Patient Outcome. Neurosurgery 2008;62(4):753-66.

Huang K, Sneed PK, Kunwar S, Kragten A, Larson DA, Berger MS, Chan A, Pouliot J, McDermott MW. Surgical resection and permanent iodine-125 brachytherapy for brain metastases. J Neurooncol 2009;91(1):83-93.

Dickinson PJ, LeCouteur RA, Higgins RJ, Bringas JR, Roberts B, Larson RF, Yamashita Y, Krauze M, Noble CO, Drummond D, Kirpotin DB, Park JW, Berger MS, Bankiewicz KS. Canine model of convection-enhanced delivery of liposomes containing CPT-11 monitored with real-time magnetic resonance imaging: laboratory investigation. J Neurosurg 2008;108(5):989-98.

Smith JS, Chang EF, Lamborn KR, Chang SM, Prados MD, Cha S, Tihan T, Vandenberg S, McDermott MW, Berger MS. Role of extent of resection in the long-term outcome of low-grade hemispheric gliomas. J Clin Oncol 2008;26(8):1338-45.

Chang EF, Potts MB, Keles GE, Lamborn KR, Chang SM, Barbaro NM, Berger MS. Seizure characteristics and control following resection in 332 patients with low-grade gliomas. J Neurosurg 2008;108(2):227-35.

Sanai N, Mirzadeh Z, Berger MS. Functional Outcome after Language Mapping for Glioma Resection. N Engl J Med 2008;358(1):18-27.

Sanai N, Berger MS, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Alvarez-Buylla A. Comment on "Human neuroblasts migrate to the olfactory bulb via a lateral ventricular extension". Science 2007;318(5849):393.

Panner A, Murray JC, Berger MS, Pieper RO. Heat shock protein 90alpha recruits FLIPS to the death-inducing signaling complex and contributes to TRAIL resistance in human glioma. Cancer Res 2007;67(19):9482-9.

Book Chapters

Sanai N, Berger MS. Maximizing Extent of Tumor Resection While Minimizing Morbidity: Possible Effect of Outcome? In: 2007 ASCO Educational Book, pp 165-70

Fisher JL, Schwartzbaum JA, Wrensch M, Berger MS. Evaluation of Epidemiologic Evidence for Primary Adult Brain Tumor Risk Factors Using Evidence-Based Medicine. In: Guiding Neurosurgery By Evidence, Pollock BF (ed): Prog Neurol Surg, Basel, Karger 2006, vol 19, pp 54-79.

Fisher JL, Schwartzbaum JA, Wrensch M, Berger MS. Evaluation of Epidemiologic Evidence for Primary Adult Brain Tumor Risk Factors Using Evidence-Based Medicine. Review of Neurological Surgery by Evidence-based Medicine Standards In Progress in Neurological Surgery, Vol 19. Pollock BE (ed), S Karger AG, Basel, Switzerland 2006, pp 54-79.