Prof Javad Nazarian is a Professor at the University of Zurich, the Head of DMG Research Center at University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University and Children’s National Hospital (CNH) in Washington, D.C.  His research focus is to understand the molecular pathways driving childhood brain cancers and, most importantly, find ways for rapid translation of laboratory findings to the clinic. He has extensive expertise in forming and leading national and international collaborations. His research groups in Zurich and CNH focus on developing biorepositories, disease preclinical models, performing molecular analyses, drug assays, and correlative studies for ongoing clinical trials.  Working in close collaboration with 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 primary goal of the team is to accelerate the discovery of clinically translatable therapies for the treatment of childhood brain cancers.