Dr. Amanda Muhs Saratsis MD

Amanda Muhs Saratsis, MD
Dr. Saratsis is a pediatric neurosurgeon at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and assistant professor of neurological surgery, biochemistry and molecular genetics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. As a neurosurgery resident, Dr. Saratsis implemented a protocol for nationwide post-mortem brainstem glioma tissue acquisition to establish a pediatric brain tumor biobank. Dr. Saratsis conducted the first proteomic analysis of spinal fluid from children with brainstem glioma to detect tumor-associated proteins. Upon the completion of her residency, Dr. Saratsis completed a year-long research fellowship in at Children’s National, where she conducted the first comprehensive, four-dimensional analysis of pediatric brainstem glioma tissue specimens, revealing tumor subgroups and clinically detectable biomarkers of disease. Since joining the Northwestern faculty, Dr. Saratsis has initiated multiple collaborative translational research projects to study tumor markers and the epigenetic effects of histone mutation in pediatric brainstem glioma. Her group was the first to identify pediatric brain tumor-specific mutations in the cerebrospinal fluid (2017) and is currently working to establish the first clinical trial of bromodomain inhibition for pediatric glioma. Dr. Saratsis holds a number of local, institutional and national leadership positions, including serving on the Young Neurosurgeons Committee and the Board of Directors of the Neurosurgery Research. She has published research in peer-reviewed journals, is the author of six neurosurgery book chapters, and is the recipient of multiple honors recognizing her innovative research including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Kenneth Shulman Award and Louise Eisenhardt Award. Her laboratory research is currently funded by a K08 mentored career development award from the NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.