Dr. Angela Waanders, Director of Precision Medicine in Oncology at the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, is a pediatric neuro-oncologist whose research has focused on developing novel therapeutic strategies for children with brain and spinal cord tumor. Her work directly led to the discovery of an activated novel KIAA1549-BRAF fusion oncogene in the majority of pediatric low-grade gliomas (PLGGs). This genomic abnormality has since been found to be a hallmark of PLGGs, and has helped to inform current pediatric low-grade glioma clinical trials.
In 2016, Dr. Waanders began the initial discussions with the Swifty Foundation, on how to develop a national infrastructure to empower tissue donation for the many children who lose their fight to brain/spinal cord cancer, and remains committed to these efforts.
Dr. Waanders also holds an appointment as an Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her other roles include Executive Board Chair of the Children’s Brain Tumor Tissue Consortium (soon to be known as the Children’s Brain Tumor Network), Site Principal Investigator for the Pacific Pediatric NeuroOncology Consortium, and Study Committee Member in the Children’s Oncology Group. She grew up in Allegan, Michigan, and went on to attend Western Michigan University as a Medallion Scholar. She received a Master’s in Public Health from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Doctor of Medicine from Tulane University School of Medicine. She completed training in both general pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology, and had her first faculty appointment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Awards and Recognitions
| 2019 | Lace Endowed Scholar, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago |
| 2015 | Alex’s Lemonade Stand Center for Excellence Scholar Award, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation |
| 2015 | Damon Runyon Dale F Frey Award Breakthrough Scientist, Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation |
| 2014 | Sanford Endowed Chair for Pediatric Oncology Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia |
| 2012 | Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award, Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation |
| 2011 | NIH Pediatric Research LRP, National Institutes of Health (2011) |
| 2010 | Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Young Investigator Award, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation |
Recent and Notable Publications
Kilburn LB, Khuong-Quang D-A, Hansford JR, Landi D, van der Lugt J, Leary SES, Driever PH, Bailey S, Perreault S, McCowage G, Waanders AJ, Ziegler DS, Witt O, Baxter PA, Kang HJ, Hassall TE, Han JW, Hargrave D, Franson AT, Yalon Oren M, Toledano H, Larouche V, Kline C, Abdelbaki MS, Jabado N, Gottardo NG, Gerber NU, Whipple NS, Segal D, Chi SN, Oren L, Tan EEK, Mueller S, Cornelio I, McLeod L, Zhao X, Walter A, Da Costa D, Manley P, Blackman SC, Packer RJ, Nysom K
Nat Med. 2023 Nov;
An International Pediatric-Onset Opsoclonus-Myoclonus Ataxia Syndrome Registry and Clinical Research Network: Development, Progress, and Vision.Kerr LM, Ryan ME, Lim M, Hearn S, Klein A, Deiva K, Hopkins SE, Bacchus MK, Sokol EA, Waanders AJ, Mitchell WG, Khakoo Y, Lotze TE, Zhang B, Gorman MPPediatr Neurol. 2023 Nov; 148: 145-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2023.05.006PMID: 37716108
Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) in pediatric high-grade gliomas can occur without ATRX mutation and is enriched in patients with pathogenic germline mismatch repair (MMR) variants.Stundon JL, Ijaz H, Gaonkar KS, Kaufman RS, Jin R, Karras A, Vaksman Z, Kim J, Corbett RJ, Lueder MR, Miller DP, Guo Y, Santi M, Li M, Lopez G, Storm PB, Resnick AC, Waanders AJ, MacFarland SP, Stewart DR, Diskin SJ, Rokita JL, Cole KANeuro Oncol. 2023 Jul; 25(7): 1331-1342.https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noac278PMID: 36541551
Postmortem Tissue Donation: Giving Families the Ability to Choose.Frenkel B, Gerasimov E, Gustafson A, Gustafson P, McLean G, Ochasi A, Waanders A, Ramaswamy VJ Clin Oncol. 2023 Jan; 41(3): 447-451.https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.21.02839PMID: 36027484
The children’s brain tumor network (CBTN) – Accelerating research in pediatric central nervous system tumors through collaboration and open science.Lilly JV, Rokita JL, Mason JL, Patton T, Stefankiewiz S, Higgins D, Trooskin G, Larouci CA, Arya K, Appert E, Heath AP, Zhu Y, Brown MA, Zhang B, Farrow BK, Robins S, Morgan AM, Nguyen TQ, Frenkel E, Lehmann K, Drake E, Sullivan C, Plisiewicz A, Coleman N, Patterson L, Koptyra M, Helili Z, Van Kuren N, Young N, Kim MC, Friedman C, Lubneuski A, Blackden C, Williams M, Baubet V, Tauhid L, Galanaugh J, Boucher K, Ijaz H, Cole KA, Choudhari N, Santi M, Moulder RW, Waller J, Rife W, Diskin SJ, Mateos M, Parsons DW, Pollack IF, Goldman S, Leary S, Caporalini C, Buccoliero AM, Scagnet M, Haussler D, Hanson D, Firestein R, Cain J, Phillips JJ, Gupta N, Mueller S, Grant G, Monje-Deisseroth M, Partap S, Greenfield JP, Hashizume R, Smith A, Zhu S, Johnston JM, Fangusaro JR, Miller M, Wood MD, Gardner S, Carter CL, Prolo LM, Pisapia J, Pehlivan K, Franson A, Niazi T, Rubin J, Abdelbaki M, Ziegler DS, Lindsay HB, Stucklin AG, Gerber N, Vaske OM, Quinsey C, Rood BR, Nazarian J, Raabe E, Jackson EM, Stapleton S, Lober RM, Kram DE, Koschmann C, Storm PB, Lulla RR, Prados M, Resnick AC, Waanders AJNeoplasia. 2022 Nov; 35: 100846-.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neo.2022.100846PMID: 36335802