Assistant Professor
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Christopher A. Alvarez-Breckenridge, M.D., Ph.D. is an Assistant Professfors in the Department of Neurosurgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He was a member of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at The Ohio State University where he received his combined MD/PhD. His doctoral research, under the mentorship of Dr. Nino Chiocca, focused on the immunologic response to oncolytic viral therapy for gliomas. He subsequently completed residency in neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. During that time he utilized single cell sequencing approaches to study markers of response to immune checkpoint blockade for CNS metastatic disease. Following residency, he completed a fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2020 prior to joining the faculty at MD Anderson in 2021. His areas of clinical focus includes metastatic disease involving the brain and spine and primary spinal tumors. His research focuses on exploiting oncolytic viral therapy as an immunotherapeutic tool for metastatic disease. Additionally, he is interested in studying the unique tumor microenvironmental features of metastatic disease along the craniospinal axis and primary bone tumors to explore their potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.