Issam Awad

About

Issam Awad is a Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Chicago, where he leads the Neurovascular Surgery Program and is tenured in the Biological Sciences Division. He holds the title of John Harper Seeley Professor of Neurological Sciences and is also a Professor of Neurology, Neurological Surgery, the Grossman Institute of Neuroscience, and the Committee on Neurobiology. Since his recruitment in 2010, Dr. Awad has been actively involved in advancing the understanding and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, hemorrhagic stroke, and neurovascular malformations. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic targets in cavernous angiomas, the pathobiology of brain hemorrhage, and minimally invasive techniques for treating hemorrhagic stroke. Dr. Awad has authored over 400 scientific papers and book chapters, edited twelve books on cerebrovascular surgery, and has presented extensively at major meetings. His scientific contributions include characterizing subcortical ischemic lesions in the aged, understanding the natural history of vascular malformations, and developing technical advances in neurovascular and epilepsy surgery. Recognized as an expert in his field, he has received numerous honors, including the Bucy Award for Excellence in Neurosurgical Education and the Arnold Award for Mentoring. He has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1998, with current projects including studies on cerebral…

Research topics

• Medicine
• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Pathology
• Bioinformatics
• Computer Science
• Surgery
• Cancer research
• Internal medicine
• Medical physics

Selected publications

• Cerebral Hemorrhage: Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Future Directions

  Circulation Research · 2022 · 588 citations

  Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating form of stroke with high morbidity and mortality. This review article focuses on the epidemiology, cause, mechanisms of injury, current treatment strategies, and future research directions of ICH. Incidence of hemorrhagic stroke has increased worldwide over the past 40 years, with shifts in the cause over time as hypertension management has improved and anticoagulant use has increased. Preclinical and clinical trials have elucidated the underlying…

  DOI

• PIK3CA and CCM mutations fuel cavernomas through a cancer-like mechanism

  Nature · 2021 · 188 citations

  DOI

• Cerebral Cavernous Malformation: From Mechanism to Therapy

  Circulation Research · 2021 · 187 citations

  Cerebral cavernous malformations are acquired vascular anomalies that constitute a common cause of central nervous system hemorrhage and stroke. The past 2 decades have seen a remarkable increase in our understanding of the pathogenesis of this vascular disease. This new knowledge spans genetic causes of sporadic and familial forms of the disease, molecular signaling changes in vascular endothelial cells that underlie the disease, unexpectedly strong environmental effects on disease pathogenesis…

  DOI

• Astrocytes propel neurovascular dysfunction during cerebral cavernous malformation lesion formation

  Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2021 · 58 citations

  Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are common neurovascular lesions caused by loss-of-function mutations in 1 of 3 genes, including KRIT1 (CCM1), CCM2, and PDCD10 (CCM3), and generally regarded as an endothelial cell-autonomous disease. Here we reported that proliferative astrocytes played a critical role in CCM pathogenesis by serving as a major source of VEGF during CCM lesion formation. An increase in astrocyte VEGF synthesis is driven by endothelial nitric oxide (NO) generated as a cons…

  DOI

• Novel Murine Models of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations

  Angiogenesis · 2020 · 51 citations

  DOI

Recent grants

• Signaling Aberrations and Cerebral Cavernous Malformation Pathogenesis

  NIH · $25.9M · 2015–2025

• NIH Grant R21NS052285

  NIH · $367k · 2008

• Trial Readiness in Cavernous Angiomas with Symptomatic Hemorrhage

  NIH · $3.8M · 2017–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel F. Hanley

  1021 shared

• Wendy Ziai

  Johns Hopkins University

  749 shared

• Nichol McBee

  Johns Hopkins University

  563 shared

• Santosh B. Murthy

  Cornell University

  555 shared

• Robert Shenkar

  University of Chicago

  447 shared

• Radhika Avadhani

  440 shared

• Romuald Girard

  407 shared

• Kevin N. Sheth

  Yale University

  406 shared

Labs

• University of Chicago Neurovascular Surgery ProgramPI

Education

• M.D.

  University of Chicago

• Ph.D., Neurological Surgery

  University of Chicago

Awards & honors

• Bucy Award for Excellence in Neurosurgical Education
• Arnold Award for Mentoring at Pritzker School of Medicine

Similar researchers at University of Chicago

• Kenneth J Leeh-58
• Nicholas G. Hatsopoulosh-57
• Richard Kraigh-47