Michael Fisher Research Program

Led by Michael J. Fisher, MD, researchers in the Fisher Research Program are using clinical outcomes analyses and molecular profiling to improve existing cancer treatment protocols. They are also evaluating new, targeted cancer therapies that can be used to treat pediatric solid tumors, including plexiform neurofibromas, optic pathway gliomas and medulloblastomas. The long-term goal of the research conducted in this research program is to improve risk classification, better define treatment selection and evaluate new, targeted therapies that are more effective and less toxic than current treatment options for these tumors.

Research Topics

Selected Publications

Pulmonary function after treatment for embryonal brain tumors on SJMB03 that included craniospinal irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2015 Sep 1;93(1):47-53.
Green DM, Merchant TE, Billups CA, Stokes DC, Broniscer A, Bartels U, Chintagumpala M, Hassall TE, Gururangan S, McCowage GB, Heath JA, Cohn RJ, Fisher MJ, Srinivasan A, Robinson GW, Gajjar A.


Impact of vision loss among survivors of childhood central nervous system astroglial tumors. Cancer. 2016 Mar 1;122(5):730-9.
de Blank PM1, Fisher MJ, Lu L, Leisenring WM, Ness KK, Sklar CA, Stovall M, Vukadinovich C, Robison LL, Armstrong GT, Krull KR.


Adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood brain tumors: Life after treatment in their own words. Cancer Nurs. 2016 Mar-Apr;39(2):134-43.
Hobbie WL, Ogle S, Reilly M, Barakat L, Lucas MS, Ginsberg JP, Fisher MJ, Volpe EM, Deatrick JA.

Collaborators