Frank Attenello, MD, MS

Frank Attenello MD, MS is the Sloan Family Endowed Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, specializing in treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors. He employs multiple surgical modalities to preserve neurologic function in tumor surgery including minimally invasive subcortical surgery (BrainPath) and laser interstitial thermal therapy. Dr. Attenello performs both cranial surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery.

Dr. Attenello received combined BS/MS degrees in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics from Yale University. He then received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he received the institutional Harvey Cushing Neurosurgery Award and the Ronald L. Bittner national Neuro-oncology research award. His work on glioblastoma and neural stem cells at Johns Hopkins was supported by a fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He then completed neurosurgical residency at the University of Southern California, with a postdoctoral fellowship in tumor genetics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Attenello has authored six neurosurgical book chapters and over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts including articles in Science, BMJ, and Cancer Discovery. He was appointed Associate Scientific Advisor for Science Translational Medicine, and is an editorial board member of the Journal of Neurosurgery and the Journal of Neuroscience Research.

Dr. Attenello is also principal investigator of a basic science research laboratory studying epigenetic regulation of glioma chemoresistance as well as role of neural stem cells in brain injury (https://sites.usc.edu/attenellolab/). His laboratory is supported by a NIH K08 Research Career Development Award and several NIH and foundational grants, including generous patient support. In addition, Dr. Attenello directs a clinical outcomes laboratory studying factors associated with improved outcome in patients with neurologic disease, as well as factors driving medical trainee burnout. Using data and experience gained in the laboratory, Dr. Attenello is identifying new therapies for improved patient outcomes.

• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD — MD — 05/2009 — Medicine
• Yale University, New Haven, CT — BS, MS — 06/2003 — Molecular BIophysics and Biochemistry

• Mack, William
• Demetriades, Demetrios
• Hirsch, Joshua
• Giannotta, Steven
• Heckmann, Nathanael
• Inaba, Kenji