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David S. Baskin, MD, FACS, FAANS (he/him/his)

Vice Chairman and Residency Program Director, Director, Kenneth R. Peak Brain and Pituitary Tumor Treatment Center
Houston Methodist Hospital
Houston, Texas, United States

DAVID S. BASKIN is a Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist Hospital. He is also the Residency Program Director and Director of the Peak Brain Tumor Center. He graduated from Swarthmore College with high honors and attended the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He received his surgical and neurosurgical training at the University of California in San Francisco. During his training, he was a research associate at the University of Capetown in South Africa and won the American Academy of Neurosurgery Award. After residency, Dr. Baskin came to Baylor College of Medicine to work with Robert Grossman. In 2005, he joined the Methodist Hospital Neurological Institute along with Dr. Grossman. Dr. Baskin has performed research studying protection of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves from injury, and now focues on novel treatments for brain tumors. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research. These include the Wakeman Award for scientific research, and the distinguished alumni award from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. He is listed in Who's Who in America, and is consistently on the list of Best Doctors in America. He has an active practice, operating on over 350 patients a year. He specializes in microsurgery of the brain and routine performs complex intracranial surgery. He has been a pioneer in pituitary surgery having performed approximately 5000 transsphenoidal operations. He is the author of over 180 publications, including several books. He is a member of numerous local, state, and national societies, and has participated in a number of multicenter national and international trials for treatment of brain tumors. He has received grants totaling over 14 million dollars from The National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, the Texas Advanced Technology Program, and private foundations. His present research focuses on novel treatment of brain tumors. He directs a laboratory with 7 PhD scientists and supporting staff. The lab focuses on bench to bedside research to treat and ultimately cure brain tumors. Ongoing projects include the use of nanotubes and nanotechnology for treatment of tumors, develpment of drugs that make tumors hypermethylated and highly responsive to chemotherapy, novel drugs to treat DIPG and Gliomas with selective mitochondrial chemotherapy, and the use of oscillating magnetic fields to kill cancer. His clinical research has also focused on treatment for brain tumors, and includes particiption in national clinical trials, investigator intiated trials, and a number of single center studies of tumor imaging and metabolism. These include the use of MR spectroscopy to detect novel changes in tumor metabolism in patients that can serve as new targets for therapy. Along with his research colleagues, he is currently conducting trials utilizing gene therapy for high grade gliomas, as well as the use of oscillating magnetic fields to treat high grade gliomas and other systemic cancers. Dr. Baskin currently serves as the Director of the Kenneth R. Peak Brain and Pituitary Treatment Center at Houston Methodist Hospital.

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