Nationally, more than 100,000 people every year are diagnosed with some type of neurological cancer. Roughly half of all brain tumors are metastasized cancers from the lung, breast or melanoma. Kentucky has the highest adult smoking rate in the country, along with the lowest lung cancer survival and high rates of both breast cancer and melanomas.

Kentucky’s dire health statistics called for a specialized clinic for tumors of the brain and spine. The Brown Cancer Center’s Brain and Spine Tumor Clinic opened in 2009 to address the neurological cancers through multidisciplinary care.

With the focused care of a multidisciplinary team, the Brain and Spine Tumor Clinic staff is making a difference in the quality and longevity of life for many of the more 300 Kentuckians each year who are diagnosed with some form of a neurological cancer. 

The James Graham Brown Cancer Center takes pride in providing a “multidiscplinary approach” to care. What this means is that specialists and technologists from every area pertinent to your circumstance team up to develop a treatment plan tailored especially for you. Like other Brown Cancer Center multidisciplinary teams, the Brain and Spine Tumor Clinic weaves together the expertise of health professionals from across the spectrum, including neurosurgery, neurology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, neuroradiology, neuro-pathology, nursing, social work, and psychology. 

Patients may attend conference meetings — increasing their own education about their diagnosis, and giving the team the opportunity to work with the patient in developing a strategy.

Our nurse team coordinator brings the team members together and helps to guide you through your treatment. In addition, our specially trained oncology nurses care for you before, during, and after treatment; help manage clinical trials; and provide education about your disease, treatments and hospitalization. 

Brain Tumor Clinic Team

• Jonathan Hodes, MD
• Warren W. Boling, MD
• Joseph Parker, MD
• Richard Downs, MD
• Rebecca Tamas, MD
• Michael Park, MD
• Jens Heidenreich, MD
• Eric C. Burton, MD
• Shiao Y. Woo, MD, MBBS, FACR
• Craig Silverman, MD
• Renato LaRocca, MD, FACP
• Stephen Winters, MD
• Haring Nauta, MD, PhD
• Karen Berg, MD
• Maxwell Boakye, MD, FACS
• Robbi L. Franklin, MD
• Francisco M. Ferraz, MD, FACS
• Hamid M. Shah, MD