Erin Crotty, M.D. is an attending physician and pediatric oncologist in the Brain Tumor Program at Seattle Children's Hospital and Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She cares for children and young adults with brain and spinal cord tumors, and is the clinical oncology lead for the Retinoblastoma Program. She is involved locally and internationally in early phase clinical trials for children with brain tumors and serves as site Principal Investigator for the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-oncology Consortium (PNOC). Her clinical research focus is dedicated to bringing new therapies, including immunotherapies, and precision medicine approaches, to young patients with difficult-to-treat central nervous system tumors. She is a member of the Collaborative Network for Neuro-oncology Clinical Trials (CONNECT) Immunotherapy Working Group and the Consortium for Pediatric Cellular Immunotherapy (CPCI) Pediatric CNS Working Group.

Dr. Crotty moderates Seattle Children’s weekly Brain Tumor Board, a platform for multidisciplinary review of patient cases offering tailored advice to providers and families on personalized treatment options and innovative clinical trials.

In 2022, she was awarded the Children's Cancer Research Fund Emerging Scientist Award to study a liquid biopsy platform using cell-free DNA from children with brain tumors. This new test is designed to detect disease left over after treatment in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). For children with central nervous system tumors, this platform has the potential to transform clinical care by improving outcomes and reducing toxicity.

Sarah Leary, MD, is an Attending Physician and Medical Director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Program in the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and associate of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Leary is a leader in clinical and translational research with a goal of improving outcomes for children, adolescents and young adults with brain tumors.

Locally, she serves as the Medical Director of Clinical Research at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research, leads the Seattle Children’s Tumor Banking and Biology study, and serves as the Seattle Children’s site Principal Investigator for the Children’s Oncology Group and CONNECT Clinical trials consortia. Nationally, she is the clinical Vice-Chair of the Central Nervous System Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group; the chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium; and a member of the Brain Malignancy Steering Committee of the National Cancer Institute. She is leading international data sharing efforts as the lead of the clinical data working group of the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) and the Co-Chair of the Executive Committee of the INSPiRE consortium.

Dr. Ronsley is an Attending Physician and pediatric oncologist in the Brain Tumor Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is the Program Director for the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Fellowship and Education Lead for the Brain Tumor Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is a Clinician Scholar and is involved with local and national trials to develop novel therapies for difficult-to-treat pediatric brain tumors. She currently serves as the Study Chair of our local Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell trials: BrainChild-01 (targeting HER2), BrainChild-03 (targeting B7-H3), and BrainChild-04 (multi-antigen targeting of HER, EGFR, B7-H3, and IL-13ra2). As well, Dr. Ronsley is interested in survivorship/morbidity reduction for pediatric brain tumor patients and collaborates locally and nationally with the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Study and the International CNS Germ Cell Tumor Consortium.

Daniel Runco, MD, MS is a Pediatric Oncologist in the Brain Tumor Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Runco joined the faculty in 2024 as a Clinician Scholar with research interests in childhood cancer cachexia. His research is focused around better understanding nutrition and body composition changes that occur during cancer treatment and how that impacts long term survival and quality-of-life. He continues to be active in national and international clinical trials and collaborative societies around treating childhood brain tumors and cancer cachexia.

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION

Dr. Runco focuses on identifying, quantifying, and describing childhood cancer cachexia – the muscle loss, weight loss, and body composition changes that occur with a cancer diagnosis and treatment. In addition to better understanding mediators of cachexia, Dr. Runco hopes to identify potential therapeutic targets as in order to mitigate cachexia, improve on-time and optimal cancer therapy delivery, and improve long-term outcomes for survivors of childhood cancers.

Dr. Nick Vitanza is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington and a physician-scientist supported by an NIH Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT)(R37) Award. 

He completed his pediatric oncology fellowship at New York University, followed by a pediatric neuro-oncology fellowship and postdoctoral research at Stanford University. At Seattle Children’s, he is a pediatric neuro-oncologist, the Scientific Director of the Brain Tumor Research Program, and the CNS CAR T cell Lead. Clinically, he has designed multiple intracranially-dosed first-in-human trials delivering HER2-, EGFR-, B7-H3-, and multi-antigen-targeting CAR T cells to children with CNS tumors. 

In the Lab, he studies aggressive pediatric brain tumors such as DIPG/DMG, ATRT, and medulloblastoma with a focus on translating discoveries to clinical trials. His team has developed CNS cancer models, identified epigenetic and immunologic cancer vulnerabilities, and engineered cellular therapeutics such as chemotactically-enhanced B7-H3 CAR T cells. His findings have been published in Cancer Cell, Cancer Discovery, Nature Communications, and Nature Medicine. A strong advocate for swift and transparent collaboration, Dr. Vitanza leads international efforts dedicated to curing pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors and participated in the White House’s Cancer Moonshot Brain Cancers Forum.

VISIT SEATTLE CHILDREN'S CNS CAR T PAGE FOR MORE RESEARCH AND CLINICAL TRIALS