Donald M. O'Rourke, M.D.
John Templeton, Jr., M.D. Professor in Neurosurgery
Faculty , Abramson Family Cancer Center, Cell and Development Biology Program, Cancer Biology Program, Translational Studies Program, University of Pennsylvania
Founding Member, Center for Cancer Pharmacology, University of Pennsylvania
Director, Human Brain Tumor Tissue Bank, University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Member, Abramson Cancer Center, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Full Member, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT), University of Pennsylvania
Founding Member, Philadelphia Coalition for a Cure (PC4C), The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania
Mack Technology Fellow, Mack Institute for Innovation Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania
Director, Glioblastoma Translational Center of Excellence, Abramson Cancer Center
Faculty, Penn Center for Cellular Immunotherapies
Department: Neurosurgery
Contact information
HUP - 15th floor, South Perelman
3401 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
3401 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-662-3490
Fax: 215-349-5534
Fax: 215-349-5534
Publications
Education
A.B. (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Harvard University (Magna Cum Laude), 1983.
M.D. (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania, 1987.
M.A. (Arts)
University of Pennsylvania, 2002.
Permanent linkA.B. (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Harvard University (Magna Cum Laude), 1983.
M.D. (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania, 1987.
M.A. (Arts)
University of Pennsylvania, 2002.
Description of Research Expertise
EGFR-directed antibody, vaccine and cell therapies for malignant gliomas and glioblastomaDescription of Clinical Expertise
Neurosurgical Oncology for Malignant Brain Tumors; Cell Therapy for Malignant Brain Tumors; Local Delivery strategies; neurosurgical navigationDescription of Other Expertise
Innovation and licensing of novel intellectual property to advance the treatment of glioblastomaSelected Publications
Salim SK, Shaikh MV, Wei J, Maich WT, Anand A, Tang OY, Subapanditha MK, Alizada Z, Suk Y, Singh M, Zhai K, Khanna A, Brakel B, Dimitrov V, Tabunshchyk Z, Chan K, Brown KR, Vora P, O'Rourke DM, Binder ZA, Venugopal C, Moffat J, Singh SK: Generation of Allogeneic CAR-T Circumvents Functional Deficits in Patient-Derived Autologous Product for Glioblastoma. Int J Cancer 159(6), Sept 2026.Linkowski L, Messing I, Berger M, Hollawell C, Friedes C, Alexander D, Wang X, Desai AS, Phillips RE, O'Rourke DM, Amankulor NM, Jackson C, Hubbeling H, Kurtz G, Bagley SJ, Bradley JD, Mohan S, Alonso-Basanta M, Lebow ES: Hypofractionated Proton Reirradiation for Recurrent Glioblastoma: Clinical and Dosimetric Outcomes from a Large Single Institution Series. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. July 2026.
Liu S, Rook AH, Huang AC, Maity A, Qin Z, Chen Y, Song D, Deng Y, Huang Z, Karakousis GC, Mitchell TC, Amaravadi RK, Schuchter LM, Binder ZA, O'Rourke DM, Herlyn M, Guo W, Xu X: Topical resiquimod elicits systemic protection and improves anti-PD1 therapy in melanoma via priming of CD8+ T cells. Cancer Immunol Res. June 2026.
Li EJ, Kraya A, Costa-Pinheiro P, Scheuermann J, Young AJ, Schubert E, Aboian M, Doot R, Ware JB, Pantel AR, Binder ZA, Storm PB, Resnick AC, Amankulor NM, O'Rourke DM, Desai A, Nasrallah MP, Brem S, Bagley SJ, Mankoff D, Nabavizadeh A: Metabolic Imaging and Molecular Signatures Reveal Metabolic Phenotypes in Recurrent Glioblastoma. JK Nuc Med 67(6), June 2026.
Akbari H, Mohan S, Liu F, Jiang C, Fathi Kazerooni A, Berger M, Rathore S, Bilello M, Sako C, Garcia J, Brem S, Bakas S, Mamourian E, Pepin A, James P, Dorsey J, Singh A, Parker D, Verma R, Cao Q, Bagley SJ, Desai A, O'Rourke DM, Shinohara RT, Nasrallah MP, Teo BK, Kurtz G, Shukla G, Alonso-Basanta M, Lustig RA, Davatzikos C: Personalized machine learning-guided radiation dose escalation in newly diagnosed glioblastoma: prospective pilot study. Nat Commun. 17(1), May 2026.
Wei S, Deng Y, Lee J, Lan H, Yang Z, Labrie M, Betts CB, Duan H, Tate B, Pucilowska J, Frederick D, Lawless AR, Sharova T, Yang Y, Hu W, Beasley GM, Schuchter LM, Wang X, Xu W, Yong G, Vandenberg MEG, Torigian DA, Sivagnanam S, Du K, Sugarman E, McGettigan S, Zheng C, Al-Rohil RN, Selim MA, Datto MB, López GY, Nair SK, Ashley DM, Xu X, Amaravadi RK, Karakousis GC, O'Rourke DM, Brem S, O'Malley BW, Demirkan G, Yu S, Lu Y, Camp T, Patterson JA, Wei Z, Corless C, Gabrilovich DI, Mou Y, Flaherty KT, Coussens LM, Boland G, Herlyn M, Mills G, Liu L, Zhang G: A longitudinal, multi-omic atlas reveals the emergence of a spatially organized immunosuppressive ecosystem in resistant melanoma. Cell Rep Med 7(4), April 2026.
Friedes C, Berger M, Linkowski L, Hollawell C, Hubbeling H, Alexander D, Kurtz G, Lustig RA, Dorsey JF, Desai AS, Phillips RE, Brem S, Davatzikos C, Nasrallah M, O'Rourke DM, Jackson C, Amankulor NM, Alonso-Basanta M, Mohan S, Bagley SJ, Lebow ES: Clinical, molecular, and immunologic determinants of survival in WHO-defined IDH-wildtype glioblastoma treated with radiotherapy: a large real-world cohort study. J Neurooncol April 2026.
Cordell EC, Mansour M, Pantel AR, Schubert E, Nabavizadeh A, Mohan S, Maloney E, Prior T, Angeloni N, Blessing C, Frangos S, Coghlan L, Wileyto EP, O'Rourke DM, Brem S, Desai AS, Bagley SJ: A phase 2 study of niraparib concomitant with tumor treating fields in patients with recurrent grade 4 glioma. Neurooncol Adv. April 2026.
Freeburg NF, Chafamo D, Konanur Gopikrishna G, Murphy RM, Peng JJ, Parthasarathy S, Dumont S, Estrada EG, Logun MT, Sun Y, Wang X, Grover P, Rodriguez JL, Zhang DL, Park K, Fu Y, Ben Hamouda N, Hernandez-Verdin I, Lamrani L, Hicks KA, Cooper NA, Ekwegbara C, Bawden EG, Waterfall JJ, Fuentealba J, Alcantara M, Seykora JT, Prouty SM, Barrett D, Banerjee E, Cox A, Assenmacher CA, Macia C, Yin M, Carpenter EL, Ming GL, Sautès-Fridman C, Fridman WH, Tartour E, Wherry EJ, Amigorena S, Fraietta JA, Nasrallah MP, Song H, Miller TE, Bagley SJ, O'Rourke DM, Binder ZA, Alanio C, Silverbush D.: The critical role of the endogenous immune compartment after CAR T cell therapy in recurrent GBM. Cell 2026.
Bagley SJ, Desai AS, Fraietta JA, Silverbush D, Chafamo D, Freeburg NF, Gopikrishna GK, Rech AJ, Nabavizadeh A, Bagley LJ,Park J, Jarocha D, Martins R, Sarmiento N, Maloney E, Lledo L, Stein C, Marshall A, Leskowitz RM, Jadlowsky JK, Mackey S, Christensen S, Oner BS, Plesa G, Brennan A, Gonzalez V, Chen F, Barrett D, Colbourn R, Nasrallah MP, Mourelatos Z, Hwang WT, Alanio C, Siegel DL, June CH, Hexner EO, Binder ZA, O'Rourke DM: Intrathecal bivalent CAR T cells targeting EGFR and IL13Rα2 in recurrent glioblastoma: a phase 1 trial Nat Med June 2025.