The Presidential Professorship of Neurosurgery

Supported in part by The Pew Charitable Trusts, Presidential Professorships are awarded to exceptional scholars of any rank who will contribute to the diverse experiences, perspectives, and eminence of Penn faculty. They were established in 2011 to strengthen the University’s ability to recruit, retain and mentor distinguished scholars who are preeminent in their fields and have demonstrated a commitment to sustaining an inclusive and vibrant academic community.

Current Chairholder

Nduka Amankulor, MD

Nduka Amankulor, MD is the Presidential Professor in Neurosurgery, Chief of Neurosurgical Oncology, and Director of the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Pennsylvania. As a neurosurgeon-scientist, Dr. Amankulor’s primary interest is understanding the immunomodulatory genetic alterations in primary and metastatic brain tumors. He dedicates much of his time to performing research with his team in the Tumor Immunogenetics Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, while also serving his patients in the clinic and operating room.

Dr. Amankulor’s laboratory was the first to discover local and systemic mechanisms of immune escape by isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations in glioma. These findings have fundamentally influenced the understanding of immune suppression in diffuse lower grade gliomas and secondary glioblastoma. His lab has also characterized epigenetic (cell-intrinsic) and exosome-dependent (systemic) mechanisms of immune escape directly initiated by single nucleotide substitutions in IDH1 and IDH2.

Dr. Amankulor’s lab has developed unique preclinical tools to probe immune suppression in mammalian glioma models, including the development of a histologically precise, syngeneic mouse model of IDH glioma. Importantly, their findings have paved the way for meaningful human clinical translation, most recently resulting in the use of both All-Trans Retinoic Acid and checkpoint inhibition to reverse immune suppression in IDH mutant gliomas. At Penn, his team has developed an investigator-initiated clinical trial concept based on these findings. Along with key collaborators, Dr. Amankulor has developed an oncolytic virus armed with activating natural killer cell ligands for the treatment of glioma and other malignancies. This virus was licensed by Oncorus Inc. for a first-in-human clinical trial in glioblastoma.

Dr. Amankulor received his BA in philosophy from New York University and attended medical school at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Amankulor also completed his internship and residency in neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine. Following his residency, he completed his post-doctoral studies in cancer biology/genetics and a fellowship in neurosurgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.