CW

Cheng-Chia Wu

Inova Fairfax Hospital, Children's National Hospital, Virginia Tech

ORCID iD 0000-0002-5908-0143
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About

I am a physician scientist with dual M.D./Ph.D. degrees and is currently a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, and collaborator at Children's National Hospital Brain Tumor Institute and Center for Cancer & Immunology Research since June of 2024 and a practicing radiation oncologist at Inova Cancer Institute. Prior to that I was in the Department of Radiation Oncology, at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

My clinical focus is on pediatric radiation oncology and I run a laboratory dedicated to pediatric brain tumors. I am interested is in pediatric and central nervous system (CNS) malignancies. My area of expertise is in radiation biology, cancer research, and tumor vasculature. I completed my MD/PhD training studying the role of 20-HETE in the microvasculature and how it contributes to hypertension in preclinical murine models. This was supported by the NIH-F30 funding mechanism. From there, it led to my interests in tumor vascular biology and radiation oncology. I am currently focused on pediatric CNS malignancy research with an emphasis on diffuse midline glioma/diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma and high grade glioma. I am interested in using new technologies to improve drug delivery and studying the role in which the blood brain barrier plays. I am examining the use of non-invasive focused ultrasound (FUS)-mediated blood brain barrier-opening to enhance drug delivery, in combination with radiation, to explore new treatment paradigms. Our preclinical data has since supported the first FUS study in patients with recurrent diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. This study is approved by the FDA and our institutional IRB (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04804709) we are currently enrolling patients. In addition, we are also exploring the usage of convection enhanced delivery (CED) for drug delivery in brain tumors. Lastly we are interested in discovering new ways to mitigate brain tumor treatment associated toxicities.

Jointly hired by Virginia Tech and Children's National Hospital, my research goals are to establish the use of new technologies and bridge the gap between the laboratory and the clinic, and vice versa. As a pediatric radiation oncologist, my clinical research interest is to improve the treatment workflow for children requiring radiation. This includes: improving patient safety, managing the anxiety of children and their parents, and expanding medical education in undeserved population. My hope is that these projects will lay the groundwork for novel treatment strategies in children.

Employment

  • Inova Fairfax Hospital Physician
    2024 - Present
  • Children's National Hospital Collaborator (Joint appointment with VT)
    2024 - Present
  • Virginia Tech Assistant Professor
    2024 - Present
  • Columbia University Irving Medical Center Assistant Professor
    ? - 2024

Education

Education history is unavailable.

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (81)