Biosketch

Dr. Jawad Fares is a neurosurgeon-scientist at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, specializing in brain tumor biology and therapeutics. His research bridges clinical neuro-oncology with molecular science to advance precision medicine approaches for gliomas and metastatic brain cancer. In parallel, Dr. Fares engages in public health scholarship and science policy, particularly within Lebanon and the Middle East.

Dr. Fares earned his B.S. in Biology and M.D. from the American University of Beirut, an M.S. in Neuropsychology from the Lebanese University, and completed a postgraduate program in Cancer Biology at Harvard Medical School. He then undertook postdoctoral research training in neuro-oncology at Northwestern University under the mentorship of Professor Maciej S. Lesniak, where he also pursued his neurosurgical training.

Dr. Fares’s research has led to notable advances in neuro-oncology. He redefined metastatic brain cancer as a distinct central nervous system disease by delineating its unique genetic, metabolic, and immune characteristics (Lancet Oncology, 2025), reshaping clinical paradigms and research priorities. He also discovered and validated metixene, a repurposed neuropharmaceutical that selectively impairs brain tumor survival by modulating autophagy (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2023), offering a scalable therapeutic option, especially for low-resource settings. His landmark review, “Molecular Principles of Metastasis: A Hallmark of Cancer Revisited” (Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2020), has been cited over 2,500 times and remains a foundational reference in metastasis biology. In glioblastoma research, he co-led the first-in-human clinical trial using neural stem cells to deliver oncolytic virotherapy (Lancet Oncology, 2021), establishing the safety of cell-based viral therapies for malignant brain tumors and enabling progression to advanced clinical trials.

Dr. Fares has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and is ranked among the top 2% of most-cited scientists worldwide (Stanford/Elsevier). His work has been recognized with several awards, including Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare (2018), GEN Top 10 Under 40 in Biomedicine (2018), the AANS Robert L. Bittner Award (2022), the King Hussein Award for Cancer Research (2022), and the ASCI Emerging Generation Award (2025).

His leadership and broader contributions to science and public health have been recognized through fellowships such as the Young Arab Pioneer (2018), IAP Young Physician Leader (2021), and Asia21 Next Generation Fellow (2024), reflecting his expanding role in biomedical science and policy across Lebanon and the Middle East.