Edward H. Oldfield, M.D., F.A.C.S., Maryland

After obtaining his medical degree at the University of Kentucky Medical School Dr. Oldfield completed two years of general surgical residency at Vanderbilt University Hospital, and a year as a neurological registrar at the National Hospital for Nervous Disease, Queens Square, London, before entering neurosurgical residency at Vanderbilt University Hospital. After finishing his neurosurgical residency he spent one year in private neurosurgical practice before joining the staff in the Surgical Neurology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. He has been the Chief of the Surgical Neurology Branch, NINDS since 1987. For the past several years he has supervised the neurosurgical care of patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease at the National Insitutes of Health.

As the head of the Surgical Neurology Branch he has developed laboratory and clinical research programs devoted to increasing the understanding of the biology of central nervous system tumors, including those associated with von Hippel-Lindau disease, pituitary tumors, syringomyelia, spinal arteriovenous malformations, and other forms of cerebral vascular disease. Clinical initiatives have included the introduction of gene therapy for CNS tumors and the use of recombinant immunotoxins for certain types of brain tumors. He has particular experience with the surgical removal of hemangioblastomas from the cerebellum, brain stem, and spinal cord. He introduced the investigation of vascular endothelial growth and permeability factor (VEGPF), previously known as vascular permeability factor (VPF) in central nervous system tumors, including the demonstration of greatly increased production of the VEGPF in hemangioblastomas associated with VHL (J. Clinical Investigation 91:153-159, 1993) The result of that investigation suggested that the basis of the development of these very vascular tumors was linked to the production of excess VEGPF, a growth factor that specifically acts on endothelial cells. More recently he and his colleagues have linked the development of hearing loss in patients with VHL to a rare form of tumor of the inner ear, low grade endolymphatic sac carcinomas, which will be reported in an upcoming publication.

See his NIH bio

as published in the March 1995 issue of VHL Family Forum, 3:1

[VHLFA Home] [About VHL] [Managing Your Health] [Professional Info] [Research] [About VHLFA]

Click here to Donate safely online through our secure server