Cheng-Chia “Fred” Wu, a physician and scientist who treats brain tumors in children, has come to Virginia Tech to bring his expertise in focused ultrasound cancer research to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion.

Wu will focus on advancing the use of low-intensity focused ultrasound to treat brain tumors in children as part of his work at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke and the Children’s National Brain Tumor Institute at its Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, DC.

Wu hopes to combine technological advances in low-intensity focused ultrasound in Virginia Tech’s labs with his experience in clinical patient trials at Children’s National to improve cancer treatment.

“I am pleased that Children’s National and Virginia Tech have invested in focused ultrasound and are both independently recognized as centers of excellence by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation,” Wu, an assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, said in a statement. “Partnering with Children’s National connects us with a world-class clinical trials institute that has pioneered the treatment of brain tumors using focused ultrasound technology. This provides a unique opportunity to help children and families battling cancer. I am also excited by the population health conversations I have had with physicians at Children’s National, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Carilion Clinic. I can’t wait to see where this takes us.”

Wu will also work with partners at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, the College of Engineering and the Animal Cancer Care and Research Center of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

Before joining Virginia Tech, Wu was an assistant professor of radiation oncology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he served in a clinical capacity treating childhood cancers and central nervous system malignancies while directing a research laboratory.

He played a key role in the Initiative for Drug Delivery Innovations for Pediatric Brain Tumors at Columbia University, developing a platform to facilitate the application of promising technologies for targeted drug delivery in children with brain tumors.

Within three years, the team had demonstrated in preclinical models that using focused ultrasound to treat brain stem cancer, along with the addition of radiation, was safe and feasible. They initiated two clinical trials for children with recurrent diffuse midline glioma, an aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain tumor that arises in the brain stem, thalamus and spinal cord.

“Dr. Wu is an excellent fit for the ongoing team research at Virginia Tech and Children’s National,” said Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and vice president of health sciences and technology at Virginia Tech, in a statement. “His experience as a pediatric radiation oncologist, translational medicine physician and clinical investigator leading an innovative drug delivery program gives him unique skills to identify promising new technologies and apply them in areas where there is a need for treating childhood cancer. In addition, we can work with the Carilion Clinic and Children’s National to actively consider ways to integrate focused ultrasound into community health settings.”

Wu is also a faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and holds a corresponding appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.