Roel Verhaak named the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery
Roel Verhaak, an internationally accomplished researcher recognized for his field-leading work in the study of brain tumors, was recently appointed the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery. The appointment, which was approved retroactive to April 1, 2023, is for a term of 10 years, renewable by the dean of the Yale School of Medicine (YSM).
Verhaak also leads a 14-member research team at Yale focused on using advanced high-throughput sequencing and computational analyses to study the process of tumor evolution and therapy resistance.
He received his M.Sc. in biomedical sciences from Radboud University and obtained his Ph.D. at the Erasmus University Medical Center, both in the Netherlands. He completed his fellowship in 2010 in the laboratory of Matthew Meyerson, at the Dana-Farber Institute/Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. After a notable career with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Verhaak joined Yale’s Department of Neurosurgery in 2023.
Verhaak’s efforts to sub-classify glioblastoma based on transcriptional programs has been extremely influential in the field. In fact, glioblastoma subtypes are commonly referred to as the “Verhaak subtypes” by the community, a legacy to his influence. Many in the scientific community have benefited from his contributions to our understanding of the molecular characteristics of brain tumors, and his pioneering work to dissect the biology of extrachromosomal DNA amplifications. His work on the contribution of extrachromosomal DNA to oncogenesis have pan-cancer implications and is fundamentally important to dissect some of the basic genetic mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of cancers.
In addition to his impressive track record in glioma research, Verhaak founded and leads the Glioma Longitudinal Analysis Consortium — an international organization of neuropathologists, clinicians, scientists, and bioinformaticians that aims to better understand glioma tumor evolution and expose therapeutic vulnerabilities — and maintains an active role in setting its goals and direction. He also brings key experience from The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network, in which he was an instrumental member of the Glioma Working Group.
His ability to collaborate and bring together diverse expertise toward a better understanding of glioma demonstrates his commitment to improving the outcomes for patients with brain tumors. Complementing these achievements is a substantial track record in training graduate students and postdoctoral associates, many of whom are now leading their own academic research laboratories. The research in the Verhaak laboratory combines computational biology, high-throughput characterization, and functional screening, yielding collaborative efforts.
Verhaak has published more than 196 manuscripts and is well-funded. His articles are featured in some of the highest impact scientific journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, Nature, Nature Genetics, and Cancer Cell. These include more than 20 senior-author publications in these journals. His papers are also highly cited (H index of 91) and his datasets are extensively used by the international community. Verhaak’s research is supported by a growing number of government agency grants where he is the principal investigator.
