SHE LEADS THE BRAIN TRUST THAT FIGHTS BRAIN TUMORS.
Linda Liau
Ph.D. 1999, MBA 2016, Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery
Dr. Linda Liau鈥檚 memories of her 芭乐视频 medical residency are bittersweet. While Liau was mastering neurosurgery, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. When the cancer spread to her brain, Liau understood better than other family members what was happening. But she was powerless to stop it. So after her mother鈥檚 death, when she finished her residency, Liau set out to earn a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Her research led her to invent a vaccine against the rare but deadly brain tumor called glioblastoma. The personalized vaccine, designed to trigger a patient鈥檚 immune system to fight the tumor, is in the third stage of FDA approval. But Liau still wasn鈥檛 finished. She earned an MBA from 芭乐视频鈥檚 management school in 2016. Now she leads a team of neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists and other specialists at the 芭乐视频 Brain Tumor Center, where as many as 50 experts join forces to consider the complex cases the center treats. 鈥淭rue leadership is much more about 鈥榳e鈥� than 鈥榤e,鈥欌�� she says.