Duane Mitchell

Duane A. Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D. is Co-Director of the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy and Director of the UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program. He is the Phyllis Kottler Friedman Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery and the State of Florida Endowed Cancer Research Chair at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Dr. Mitchell graduated from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey with a bachelor’s degree in biology before receiving his medical degree and doctorate degree in immunology from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 2001. He completed post-graduate training in pathology and a neuro-oncology research fellowship at Duke University Medical Center prior to joining the faculty as an assistant professor.

During his tenure at Duke, Dr. Mitchell held positions as Director of Preclinical Research at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Associate Director of the Duke Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, and served as an active member of the Duke Cancer Institute Safety Oversight Committee, Cancer Center Protocol Review Committee, and Institutional Review Board.

In 2013, Dr. Mitchell joined the University of Florida faculty and leads a comprehensive brain tumor program focused on translational research. He has considerable clinical and translational research experience having served as principal investigator on seven first-in-human protocols through FDA-approved clinical trials. The goal of these trials is to see improvements in patient outcomes using novel approaches that stimulate immune responses against malignant brain tumor cells in combination with current standard treatments. Dr. Mitchell’s research team will expand upon early successes observed in these personalized cancer treatment approaches, and offer unique clinical options at UF for adult and pediatric patients diagnosed with malignant brain tumors.

Dr. Mitchell currently serves as a chartered member of the NIH study section on Cancer Immunopathology and Immunotherapy, Chair of the NCI Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Immunotherapy Committee, member of the NCI Brain Malignancy Steering Committee Immunotherapy Working Group, and as gubernatorial appointee to the Florida Center for Brain Tumor Research Scientific Advisory Council. He has more than 40 refereed journal publications, 15 textbook chapters and scientific reviews and is inventor on five United States patents on findings from his oncological research. Dr. Mitchell has been invited to serve on several scientific advisory boards and to speak on neuro-oncology in local, national and international venues. His work is supported by the Department of Defense, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke, and several private funding agencies.