Brian R. Rood, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s National Hospital whose primary clinical focus is pediatric neuro-oncology. Dr. Rood joined the faculty of Children’s National in 2002 after completing a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology as well as a research fellowship in the molecular biology of brain tumors, both at Children’s National and Children’s National Research Institute.
Dr. Rood is the Director of Clinical Neuro-Oncology at Children’s and cares for brain tumor patients on the inpatient oncology ward and in the outpatient clinic. He is co-principal investigator with Roger Packer, M.D., of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium clinical trial program at Children’s National and runs an active molecular biology lab in the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research. He also is investigating the proteome of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood, in order to determine the differences between the four subgroups of the disease in an effort to identify therapeutic targets. He aims to further this work by identifying medulloblastoma specific proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid in order to discover biomarkers capable of providing insight into the biology of brain tumors and detecting recurrent disease. Dr. Rood also is working to identify microsatellite markers in a person’s DNA that predict the risk of developing different kinds of brain tumors.
Dr. Rood has two children. His favorite past times include designing and building furniture, sailing, reading, and playing the mandolin.