Christina Jackson, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Department: Neurosurgery
Contact Information
Department of Neurosurgery
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
PCAM, 3400 Civic Center Blvd.
15-137, South Tower
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Email: christina.jackson2@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
I3H Keywords
- Tumor Microenvironment
Publications
Links
Education
-
BS (Architectural Engineering)
University of Texas at Austin, 2009 -
MD (Medicine)
Harvard Medical School, 2014
Post-Graduate Training
-
Neurosurgery Residency
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2014 - 2021 -
Skull base fellowship
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2021 - 2022 -
Post-doctoral fellowship
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 2018 - 2020
Description of Clinical Expertise
Dr. Christina Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She specializes in open skull base surgery, minimally invasive surgery, endoscopic skull base and pituitary surgery, and complex brain tumor surgery. Her clinical expertise is in the treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors with special interest in skull base tumors include pituitary adenomas, meningiomas, craniopharyngiomas, chordomas, chondrosarcomas, schwannomas, and esthesioneuroblastomas.
Dr. Jackson received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School prior to completing her neurosurgery residency at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She then completed a dedicated fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center focusing on endoscopic endonasal and open skull base surgical techniques. Dr. Jackson is uniquely trained in both open and endoscopic endonasal skull base approaches and aims to select the most effective and less invasive approach to each individual patient.
Description of Research Expertise
The focus of our lab’s research is at the intersection of immunology, metabolism, and brain tumor biology. The primary goal of our translational research is to understand mechanisms of immune evasion by primary malignant brain tumors and skull base tumors to generate novel immune-based therapies. We utilize a combination of high-dimensional single cell immune and genomic profiling, metabolomics, and advanced tumor organoid and mouse models, to 1) understand the role of myeloid derived suppressor cells in promoting tumor growth and T cell dysfunction, 2) elucidate the mechanisms of tumor-specific T cell exhaustion and clonal lineage of dysfunction T cells, and 3) understand how metabolic networks control immune cell function within the tumor microenvironment.
Description of ITMAT Expertise
Immune Oncology
Tumor Microenvironment
Cancer Immunotherapy
Brain Tumors
Skull base Tumors
Selected Publications
- Jackson, C., Cherry, C., Bom, S., Dykema, A. G., Wang, R., Thompson, E., Zhang, M., Li, R., Ji, Z., Hou, W., Zhan, W., Zhang, H., Choi, J., Vaghasia, A., Hansen, L., Wang, W., Bergsneider, B., Jones, K. M., Rodriguez, F., Weingart, J., Lucas, C. H., Powell, J., Elisseeff, J., Yegnasubramanian, S., Lim, M., Bettegowda, C., Ji, H., Pardoll, D. : Distinct myeloid-derived suppressor cell populations in human glioblastoma Science 387(6731) : eabm5214, January 2025
- Jackson, C., Chongsathidkiet, P., Koyama, S., Loebel, F., Cui, X., Farber, S. H., Woroniecka, K., Elsamadicy, A. A., Dechant, C. A., Kemeny, H. R., Sanchez-Perez, L., Cheema, T. A., Souders, N. C., Herndon, J. E., Coumans, J. V., Everitt, J. I., Nahed, B. V., Sampson, J. H., Gunn, M. D., Martuza, R. L., Dranoff, G., Curry, W. T., Fecci, P. E. : Sequestration of T cells in bone marrow in the setting of glioblastoma and other intracranial tumors Nat Med 24(9) : 1459-1468, Sep 2018
- Jackson, C., Tadokoro, K.S., Wang, E.W., Zenonos, G.A., Snyderman, C.H., Gardner, P.A. : Approach selection for resection of petroclival meningioma Neurosurgical Focus: Video 6(2) April 2022
- Jackson, C., Chan, Y.K., Stefko, S.T., Zenonos, G.A., Gardner, P.A. : Lateral orbitotomy for resection for resection of trigeminal schwannoma J Neurol Surg B Skull Base 83(S01) : S1-S270, February 2022 Notes: Poster presentation at North American Society of Skull Base Surgery Annual Meeting
- Jackson, C., Kong, D.K., Gersey, Z.C., Wang, E.W., Zenonos, G., Snyderman, C.H., Gardner, P.A. : Contact endoscopy as a novel technique for intra-operative identification of normal pituitary gland and adenoma Neurosurgical Focus: Video 6(1) : V17, January 2022
- Jackson, C., Lim, M. : Bespoke immunotherapy: how close are we? Neuro Oncol 21(3) : 289-290, Feb 2019
- Jackson, C., Vo, C., Daniels, M., Chaichana, K. : Clinical Predictors of Tumor Recurrence after Pituitary Adenoma Resection Neuro-Oncology 21(Supplement_6) : vi246-vi247, November 2019 Notes: Poster presentation at Society of Neuro-oncology Annual Meeting
- Medikonda, R., Choi, J., Pant, A., Saleh, L., Routkevitch, D., Tong, L., Belcaid, Z., Kim, Young H, Jackson, C.M., Jackson, C., Mathios, D., Xia, Y., Shah, P.P, Patel, K., Kim, T., Srivastava, S., Huq, S., Ehresman, J., Pennington, Z., Tyler, B., Brem, H., Lim, M. : Synergy between glutamate modulation and anti-programmed cell death protein 1 immunotherapy for glioblastoma J Neurosurg 136(2) : 378-388, Aug 2021
- Umberto Tosi, MD, Christina Jackson, MD, Glen D’Souza, MD, Mindy Rabinowitz, MD, Christopher Farrell, MD, Sean Parsel, DO, Vijay K. Anand, MD, Ashutosh Kacker, MD, Abtin Tabaee, MD, George Zenonos, MD, Carl Snyderman, MD, Eric Wang, MD, James Evans, MD, Marc Rosen, MD, Gurston Nyquist, MD, Paul Gardner, MD, and Theodore H. Schwartz, MD : Endoscopic Endonasal repair of encephloceles of the lateral sphenoid sinus: multi-institution confirmation of a new classification J Neurosurg 140(3) : 705-711, Sep 2023
- Christina Jackson, MD, David Fernandes Cabral, MD, S. Tonya Stefko, MD, Eric W. Wang, MD, Georgios A. Zenonos, MD, Carl H. Snyderman, MD, MBA, and Paul A. Gardner, MD : Combined transorbital neuroendoscopic and endoscopic endonasal resection of orbital hemangioma Neurosurgical Focus Video 16 April 2025