Dr. Elias Sayour – RNA-NANOPARTICLE VACCINES FOR PEDIATRIC HIGH-GRADE GLIOMA

Elias Sayour, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, and Pediatrics, as well as Principal Investigator of the RNA Engineering Laboratory within the Preston A. Wells, Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy and UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, and Co-Leader of the UFHCC Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response. He completed undergraduate training at Fordham University, received his medical degree from the University at Buffalo, and his doctorate from Duke University.

After finishing his pediatric residency at the Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center of New York at North-Shore-LIJ, he completed a hematology-oncology fellowship at Duke University Medical Center before accepting a faculty position at the University of Florida. Dr. Sayour is currently an NIH funded investigator, a University of Florida Term Professor, and a board-certified pediatrician and oncologist. He is working to develop lipid-nanoparticles to train the immune system to fight cancer, and has received many awards for his work including the U.S. Department of Defense Cancer Research Award, the American Brain Tumor Association Discovery Award, and Hannah’s Hereos St. Baldrick’s Scholar Award. Dr. Sayour has spearheaded new paradigm treatments currently being tested in canine (pet dog) patients with terminal brain cancer, and also serves as Principal Investigator/Study Chair on first-in human immunotherapy studies for children with aggressive brain cancers.