Niku Nourmohammadi
Tissue Navigator

Our Center of Excellence at Children’s National

Every day, the Brain Tumor Research team at Children’s National Hospital works to break new ground in pediatric neuro-oncology, striving to rewrite the narrative that follows a pediatric brain tumor diagnosis. Located within the Children’s National’s Brain Tumor Institute, and in collaboration with the Center for Genetic Medicine Research and DIPG Research Institute of Zurich, our multidisciplinary team confronts pediatric brain tumors on several fronts including basic and translational research, clinical trials, and wide-reaching collaborations. Led by Javad Nazarian, PhD, the Brain Tumor Research program holds leadership positions and conducts national trials in partnership with CBTTC, PNOC, PBTC, among many others. They seek to unravel disease complexity and pursue new approaches that will lead to promising treatments for children facing brain tumors.​

The Center for Genetic Medicine Research at Children’s National houses a highly interdisciplinary faculty, with nearly half of the physician-scientists from many clinical divisions in the hospital. Focusing on common health problems in Washington, DC, as well as serving as an international referral site for rare disorders, faculty and their laboratories are encouraged to be collaborative, and many of the Center’s projects bring together multiple clinical and scientific disciplines. The Center strives to provide faculty easy access to the latest technologies in genomics, proteomics, microscopy, bioinformatics, pre-clinical (murine) drug trials, and multi-site clinical trial networks. The Center provides services in these technologies to laboratories throughout the District, and internationally, through a series of NIH Core grants.

Children’s National Hospital is among the nation’s top 10 children’s hospitals and is nationally ranked in all specialties evaluated by the recent U.S. News & World Report. In 2020, construction will be complete on the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus, the first in the nation dedicated to pediatric research. Children’s National has been designated twice as a Magnet® hospital, demonstrating the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. Our pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C., metropolitan area, including the Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs. Children’s National is home to the Children’s National Research Institute and Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation and is the nation’s seventh-highest NIH-funded children’s hospital. It is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels.