Cranial Base Endoscopic Surgery Advances
Advances in endoscopic equipment, and constant honing of surgical technique have improved patient outcomes for skull base tumors.
About Daniel Cahill, MD, PhD
As a neurosurgeon-scientist, Dr. Daniel Cahill's clinical practice is focused on the care of brain tumor patients, improving clinical trials of therapy for these patients, and training neurosurgical residents in the diagnosis and treatment of these cancers.
Dr. Cahill was born and raised in Connecticut, attending Yale College and then moving to Baltimore to Johns Hopkins Medical School, receiving his MD/PhD degrees in 2001. His PhD was in Human Genetics, in the laboratory of Drs. Ken Kinzler and Bert Vogelstein. He then completed neurosurgery residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Louis of Pathology. After completion of his clinical training, he joined the junior faculty in Neurosurgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He later re-joined the faculty of the MGH Brain Tumor Center in 2011, where he is currently in active practice. He sees patients in the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care, and his research laboratory is located in the Simches Research Building Brain Tumor Research Center.
Departments, Centers, & Programs:
Clinical Interests:
- Intrinsic Brain Tumors (Gliomas, Glioblastomas, others)
- Meningiomas
- Metastatic Cancer of the brain (from melanoma, lung, etc)
- Other cancers of the central nervous system
- Recurrent Brain Tumors (post-treatment)
Treats:
- Adult
Locations
Mass General Cancer Center: Neuro-Oncology
55 Fruit St.
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-724-0884
Fax: 617-643-7928
Medical Education
- M.D.; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
American Board Certifications
- Neurological Surgery, American Board of Neurological Surgery
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare
- Cigna
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Coventry
- Fallon Health
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
- Humana
- Maine Community Health Options
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan
- MassHealth
- Medicaid CT
- Medicaid ME
- Medicaid NH
- Medicaid RI
- Medicaid VT
- Medicare
- Medicare ACO
- Multiplan
- Railroad Medicare
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- United Health Care
- Wellpoint
- WellSense
- WellSense NH
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
Dr. Cahill's laboratory-based research effort aims to identify the molecular genetic alterations that underlie the development, progression and treatment resistance of brain tumors. By understanding the mechanism by which tumor genome alterations drive the growth of these cancers, therapeutic strategies can be designed to improve outcomes for these patients.
His research effort has contributed key observations regarding the molecular mechanisms of chemoresistance in human glioblastomas, where combined radiation and alkylating chemotherapy temozolomide are the standard-of-care. In close collaboration with Dr. Hiro Wakimoto in the Translational Neuro-Oncology Laboratory of the MGH Brain Tumor Research Center, his more recent work has focused on the subgroup of gliomas characterized by IDH mutation and on targeted therapeutics for brain tumors. To facilitate precision medicine approaches for diverse CNS tumors, Dr. Cahill has participated in a broadly collaborative effort with Drs. Priscilla Brastianos and Fred Barker to characterize the molecular genetic alterations within multiple tumor types (craniopharyngioma, hemangioblastoma, spinal cord tumors, brain metastases, meningiomas, and others).
This research work has a track record of successful competitive peer-reviewed funding from the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation, the Brain Tumor Society, the National Brain Tumor Foundation, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in the Medical Sciences, the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center/MIT Koch Institute Bridge Program, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health.