Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Storm is a pediatric neurosurgeon-scientist and co-founder and Director of the Center for Data-Driven Discovery in Biomedicine, known as D3b. D3b is a disease-agnostic, age-agnostic, specialty-agnostic, and institution-agnostic discovery platform that integrates clinical, imaging, pathology, biospecimen, genomic, proteomic, and longitudinal outcome data to accelerate research, artificial intelligence, clinical trials, and precision medicine.

D3b supports national and international programs including the Children’s Brain Tumor Network, the NIH funded Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource Center, ARPA-H funded RADIANT and PCX, the NIH funded INCLUDE Data Coordinating Center, the Philadelphia Coalition for a Cure (PC4C), and CORSICA. Its scope extends beyond CHOP, beyond pediatrics, and beyond tumors, supporting research across the lifespan including adult and pediatric brain tumors, sinonasal cancer, epilepsy, structural birth defects, Down syndrome, autism, rare diseases, and other neurological and developmental conditions.

Dr. Storm’s research expertise includes open science, multimodal data integration, artificial intelligence, real-time clinical data analysis, external control cohorts, decentralized clinical trials, biomarker discovery, radiogenomics, precision surgery, and learning health systems. His work focuses on creating scalable infrastructure that connects every patient, biospecimen, image, and clinical outcome to discovery and improved care.

Description of Clinical Expertise

Dr. Storm specializes in complex pediatric neurosurgery, particularly tumors of the brain, spine, skull base, and craniocervical junction. His expertise includes endoscopic endonasal and minimally invasive skull base surgery, craniopharyngioma, intraventricular and brainstem tumors, spinal cord and vertebral tumors, complex cervical spine reconstruction, vascular malformations, and neuroendoscopy.

He has built nationally recognized programs in pediatric neuro-oncology, endoscopic skull base surgery, complex spine surgery, vascular neurosurgery, epilepsy surgery, and precision surgery. His clinical practice integrates advanced imaging, molecular profiling, intraoperative technology, multidisciplinary care, and longitudinal outcomes.

Description of Other Expertise

Dr. Storm is a transformational physician-executive and program builder with expertise in organizational growth, faculty development, philanthropy, clinical operations, institutional strategy, and the integration of clinical care, research, data science, and innovation.

As Chief of Neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, he has built one of the nation’s largest, most clinically active, and most highly funded pediatric neurosurgery programs. He expanded the faculty, established nationally recognized clinical and research programs, developed multiple endowed chairs, substantially increased clinical volume and revenue, and created a multidisciplinary enterprise of clinicians, scientists, engineers, and research professionals.

His leadership model focuses on recruiting exceptional people and providing the culture, mentorship, infrastructure, and resources that allow them to develop independently successful programs. Benjamin Kennedy, MD, has built an epilepsy program supported by several million dollars in philanthropy, an endowed chair, and NIH funding. Adam Kundishora, MD, has secured nearly $1 million in research support and an NINDS R01 with a sixth-percentile score. Gregory Heuer, MD, holds an endowed chair and has attracted more than $1 million in philanthropy during the past two years.

Alex Tucker, MD, has developed two United States patents and one international patent, founded a company, and received multiple small-business research awards. He is building a cervical spine and Chiari program, and the Bobby Jones Chiari & Syringomyelia Foundation is transferring the operating center of its consortium to CHOP under his leadership. He also has three R-series NIH grant applications under review. Peter Madsen, MD, has secured foundation, philanthropic, and industry support for a brain tumor research program focused on CAR T-cell therapy and patient-derived organoid development.

The Center for Data-Driven Discovery in Biomedicine, known as D3b, is the clearest expression of Dr. Storm’s leadership model. D3b is not a conventional laboratory centered on one investigator, institution, age group, or disease. It is an enabling platform that helps investigators and programs generate data, secure federal funding and philanthropy, form industry partnerships, develop clinical trials, create new companies and technologies, and translate discoveries into patient care. Its infrastructure supports programs extending beyond CHOP, pediatrics, neurosurgery, and tumors, including epilepsy, Chiari malformation, structural neurological disorders, the Philadelphia Coalition for a Cure, and CORSICA.

Dr. Storm’s leadership philosophy, “Innovation Through Collaboration,” centers on recruiting and developing exceptional people, eliminating institutional silos, sharing infrastructure and opportunity, and building enduring programs that extend beyond a single investigator, division, institution, age group, or disease. His work provides the proven foundation for an institute-level enterprise in data-driven discovery capable of uniting clinical medicine, artificial intelligence, multi-omic science, engineering, clinical trials, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and industry across an academic health system.