Details of UF’s decades-long fight against brain tumors to be discussed at brain awareness week talk

Nothing built by human hands compares with the brain — the most complex living structure known in the universe. But when tumors attack, people count on human ingenuity and skill to come to the rescue. That’s where William Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of neurosurgery at the College of Medicine and the McKnight Brain Institute, enters the picture. A neurosurgeon, inventor and national figure in the fight against brain cancer, Friedman has devoted his career to developing new tools and techniques to treat brain tumors and other neurological problems. Friedman will discuss the more than 20 years of translational research that has gone into the development of radiosurgery at the University of Florida at noon March 15 at the DeWeese Auditorium on the ground floor of the McKnight Brain Institute, 100 S. Newell Drive, Gainesville. The talk — announced by Brain Institute Executive Director Dennis A. Steindler, Ph.D. — is part of Brain Awareness Week, which is being recognized worldwide from March 15 to March 21 to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. The public is invited. “We are focused on brain tumor research, and we will continue to move forward until we find a cure,” Friedman said. UF has a storied history in the development of radiosurgery dating back to 1985, when Friedman and colleagues set out to move beyond the state of the art in radiation therapy for brain tumors and develop new methods to target tumors. The work led to the development of the UF Radiosurgery System and a variety of products, including the current state-of-the-art Trilogy Tx medical linear accelerator, which uses high-resolution images to precisely focus radiation on tumors while sparing healthy tissue.

Brain tumors are an ever-present health problem in the United States, with more than 200,000 Americans developing brain tumors each year. They are the second most common cause of cancer-related death in people up to age 35. People in their 60s face the highest risk. For more information on the presentation, please call the department of neurosurgery at 352-273-9000.