Prof Javad Nazarian is a professor at the University of Zürich, the Head of the DIPG/DMG Research Center at University Children’s Hospital Zürich and an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the George Washington University and Children’s National Hospital (CNH) in Washington DC, USA. His research focuses on understanding the molecular pathways driving childhood brain cancers and, most importantly, on finding methods for the rapid translation of laboratory findings to the clinic. He has extensive expertise in forming and leading national and international collaborations. His research groups in Zürich and CNH focus on developing biorepositories and preclinical disease models and performing molecular analyses, drug assays and correlative studies for ongoing clinical trials. Working in close collaboration with the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (PNOC), Prof Nazarian has helped to establish the DMG-ACT working group, encompassing 16 international institutions across North America, Europe and Australia. The team’s primary goal is to accelerate the discovery of clinically translatable therapies for the treatment of childhood brain cancers.