Our Science – Warren Website

Katherine Elizabeth Warren, M.D.

Pediatric Oncology Branch Head, Neuro-Oncology Section Investigator National Cancer Institute Building 10 - Hatfield CRC, Room 1-3940 10 Center Drive Bethesda, MD 20892 Phone:   301-435-4683 Fax:   301-451-7052 E-Mail:   warrenk@mail.nih.gov Link: Other Homepage

Biography

Dr. Warren received her B.S. in Medical Technology in 1982 and her M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1990. She completed a residency in pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Oncology at the National Cancer Institute. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Warren is a Tenure Track Clinician in the pediatric Oncology Branch, specializing in Neuro-Oncology. Her research interests include performance of clinical trials, particularly in children with tumors of the central nervous system, non-invasive evaluation/imaging of the brain, and neurotoxicity resulting from tumors and their treatment.

Research

View Dr. Warren's Current Clinical Trials

Treatment of children with tumors involving the central nervous system is difficult due to the lack of available effective agents, the effects of treatment on the developing brain, and the frequency of tumor resistance in this patient population. Our research objectives include the clinical development of novel anticancer agents through clinical trials incorporating pharmacokinetic studies, imaging studies and neuropsychologic testing. We are studying agents designed to overcome drug resistance or improve delivery of standard agents through modulation of the blood:brain barrier. Investigated agents include modulating agents, such as P-glycoprotein antagonists, the bradykinin agonist, lobradimil, which temporarily disrupts the blood:brain barrier, and agents which overcome drug-resistance, including 06-Benzylguanine as a potentiating agent for Temozolomide. We are also collaborating with investigators in NINDS to use convection-enhanced delivery as a method of treatment for pediatric brain tumors. A major goal of our research is to better define and detect neurotoxicity associated with cancer and its therapy. We have been studying patients with brain tumors, patients with neurotoxicity after treatment for cancer, and patients receiving CNS radiation or high-dose methotrexate using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMRS) in an effort to objectively characterize neurotoxic effects on the CNS. We are also currently studying the role of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, 3D imaging and PET in the evaluation of response. This may be a means to noninvasively follow response of CNS tumors to the newer molecularly targeted agents, which tend to be cytostatic, rather than cytotoxic, and lack known biologic correlates of response. The work involving the noninvasive evaluation of the brain in children with brain tumors will be expanded.

We have collaborated with Frank Balis, John Butman, Elizabeth Fox, Joseph Frank, Nicholas Patronas, Brigitte Widemann, and Pam Wolters, NIH; Roger Packer, Children's Hospital National Medical Center; and are participants in the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium.

This page was last updated on 6/12/2008.