Vijay Ramaswamy

Dr. Vijay Ramaswamy is originally from Northern Alberta, where he completed medical school and a paediatric neurology residency at the University of Alberta (MD ’05, FRCPC ’10). Following that he completed a paediatric neuro-oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, after which he came to Toronto where he completed a PhD in Cancer Genomics at the University of Toronto (PhD ’15) and a clinical neuro-oncology fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). He is currently a staff neuro-oncologist in the Paediatric Brain Tumour Program at SickKids and Scientist in the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Programme. His research interests primarily involve translational genomics of both medulloblastoma and ependymoma with a specific interest in recurrent and high-risk tumours. The over-reaching goal of his research programme is the development of new and novel therapies which will both reduce toxicity of current therapy, but also provide rationale and more effective treatments for children with brain tumours.

Education and experience

• 2023–Present: Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2018–Present: Assistant Professor of Paediatrics (Full-Time Faculty), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2018–2022: Scientist-track Investigator, Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2016–2018: Assistant Professor of Paediatrics (Part-Time), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2016–2018: Project Investigator, Neuroscience and Mental Health, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 2015–Present: Staff Physician, Division Haematology/Oncology, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• 2011–2015: Clinical Research Fellow, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology research program and Paediatric Brain Tumour Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON
• 2010–2011: Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
• 2005–2010: Resident, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, AB
• 2003: Summer Student, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA
• 1999–2002: Summer Student/Honours Student, Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB

Research

Dr. Ramaswamy's overall research focus is the translational genomics of medulloblastoma and ependymoma with a focus on recurrent disease. His previous and ongoing work has been primarily to apply clinical correlates to recent genomic findings, with an overarching goal of identifying new and more robust risk stratification for both entities. In addition to investigating the clinical correlations of genomics, he has an interest in leveraging genomics to identify new and novel therapies for children with recurrent brain tumors, through an integrated functional genomic and high throughput approach. This is a logical extension of his doctoral work following my Paediatric Neuro-Oncology training. His current position as a Staff Neuro-Oncologist at SickKids, one of the largest paediatric brain tumour programs in the world, allows him to take the lead in translating the findings into early phase clinical trials.

Funding

• Canadian Institutes for Health Research
• Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute
• Canada Research Chairs
• Brain Canada
• Rally Foundation
• Alex’s Lemonade Stand
• Matthew Larson Foundation
• American Brain Tumor Association
• Stand up to Cancer
• Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
• Meagan’s Hug
• b.r.a.i.n. child
• Garron Family Cancer Centre
• C.R. Younger Foundation
• Nelina’s Hope
• Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada
• CERN Foundation

1. Merchant TE, Bendel AE, Sabin ND, Burger PC, Shaw DW, Chang E, Wu S, Zhou T, Eisenstat DD, Foreman NK, Fuller CE, Anderson ET, Hukin J, Lau CC, Pollack IF, Laningham FH, Lustig RH, Van Soelen ML, Armstrong FD, Handler MH, Williams-Hughes C, Kessel S, Kocak M, Ellison DW, Ramaswamy V.  Phase II trial of conformal radiation therapy for pediatric patients with localized ependymoma, chemotherapy before second surgery for incompletely resected ependymoma, and observation for completely resected, classic, supratentorial ependymoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2019 (In press). Impact Factor: 24.7 
2. Zapotocky M, Beera K, Adamski J, Laperierre N, Guger S, Janzen J, Lassaletta A, Nobre LF, Bartels U, Tabori U, Hawkins C, Urbach S, Tsang DS, Dirks PB, Taylor MD, Bouffet E, Mabbott DJ, Ramaswamy V. Survival and Functional Outcomes of Molecularly Defined Childhood Posterior Fossa Ependymoma: Cure at a Cost. 2019 Jun 1;125(11):1867-1876. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31995. Epub 2019 Feb 15. 
3. Cavalli FMG, Hübner JM, Sharma T, Luu B, Sill M, Zapotocky M, Mack SC, Witt H, Lin T, Shih DJH, Ho B, Santi M, Emery L, Hukin J, Dunham C, McLendon RE, Lipp ES, Gururangan S, Grossbach A, French P, Kros JM, van Veelen MC, Rao AAN, Giannini C, Leary S, Jung S, Faria CC, Mora J, Schüller U, Alonso MM, Chan JA, Klekner A, Chambless LB, Hwang EI, Massimino M, Eberhart CG, Karajannis MA, Lu B, Liau LM, Zollo M, Ferrucci V, Carlotti C, Tirapelli DPC, Tabori U, Bouffet E, Ryzhova M, Ellison DW, Merchant TE, Gilbert MR, Armstrong TS, Korshunov A, Pfister SM, Taylor MD, Aldape K, Pajtler KW, Kool M, Ramaswamy V. Heterogeneity within the PF-EPN-B ependymoma subgroup.  Acta Neuropathologica. doi: 10.1007/s00401-018-1888-x. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30019219. (2018) Impact Factor: 15.7
4. Liang L, Morrison LC, Tatari N, Stromecki M, Fresnoza A, Porter CJ, Del Bigio MR, Hawkins C, Chan JA, Ryken TC, Taylor MD, Ramaswamy V*, Werbowetski-Ogilvie TE*. CD271+ cells are diagnostic and prognostic and exhibit elevated MAPK activity in SHH medulloblastoma. Cancer Res. 2018 Jun 21. pii: canres.0027.2018. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-0027. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29930101. *co-senior and co-corresponding authors. Impact Factor: 9.13
5. Cavalli FMG, Remke M, Rampasek L, Peacock J, Shih DJH, Luu B, Garzia L, Torchia J, Nor C, Morrissy AS, Agnihotri S, Thompson YY, Kuzan-Fischer CM, Farooq H, Isaev K, Daniels C, Cho BK, Kim SK, Wang KC, Lee JY, Grajkowska WA, Perek-Polnik M, Vasiljevic A, Faure-Conter C, Jouvet A, Giannini C, Nageswara Rao AA, Li KKW, Ng HK, Eberhart CG, Pollack IF, Hamilton RL, Gillespie GY, Olson JM, Leary S, Weiss WA, Lach B, Chambless LB, Thompson RC, Cooper MK, Vibhakar R, Hauser P, van Veelen MC, Kros JM, French PJ, Ra YS, Kumabe T, López-Aguilar E, Zitterbart K, Sterba J, Finocchiaro G, Massimino M, Van Meir EG, Osuka S, Shofuda T, Klekner A, Zollo M, Leonard JR, Rubin JB, Jabado N, Albrecht S, Mora J, Van Meter TE, Jung S, Moore AS, Hallahan AR, Chan JA, Tirapelli DPC, Carlotti CG, Fouladi M, Pimentel J, Faria CC, Saad AG, Massimi L, Liau LM, Wheeler H, Nakamura H, Elbabaa SK, Perezpeña-Diazconti M, Chico Ponce de León F, Robinson S, Zapotocky M, Lassaletta A, Huang A, Hawkins CE, Tabori U, Bouffet E, Bartels U, Dirks PB, Rutka JT, Bader GD, Reimand J, Goldenberg A*, Ramaswamy V*, Taylor MD*. Intertumoral Heterogeneity within Medulloblastoma Subgroups. Cancer Cell. 2017 Jun 12;31(6):737-754.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2017.05.005. PubMed PMID: 28609654. Impact Factor: 27.401. *co-senior and co-corresponding author. 

See full list of Vijay Ramaswamy's publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=vijay+ramaswamy&sort=date&size=200