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Lynbrook high school junior studies pediatric cancer

Matthew Bernstein, 16, is pursuing cancer research at Duke University and Weill Cornell Medical College

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Matthew Bernstein, 16, and incoming Lynbrook High School junior, has been passionately pursuing his interest in cancer research at Duke University this summer.

Under the direction of Dr. Oren Becher, assistant professor of Hematology-Oncology, at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke School of Medicine, Matthew was invited to participate in a summer internship. It’s his first there, having spent last summer at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Matthew has been involved in the field of pediatric brain cancer since the loss of his brother, Zachary, in March of 2014. After months of treatment for a rare, inoperable brain tumor, Zachary died at age 11.

“It was fairly similar to a lot of brother relationships,” said Matthew. “We fought constantly … over the Xbox controller, things like that. But despite the fighting, we got along. We he got sick, all I wanted to do was to make him laugh.”

Matthew said that he’d always been interesting in math and the sciences, but he really didn’t know what he wanted to do. “When [Zachary] was sick, I saw a lot of oncologists, physical therapists, anesthesiologists and what they do. Because of my experiences, I was exposed to the neurological field and surgery, so I’m leaning toward that now.” But, he said with a chuckle, “I’ve been known to change my mind.”

He said that in the past five years, there’s been an incredible amount of progress in this field.

Matthew said that the highlight of his summer was being invited into the operating room with the highly trained neurosurgeons, where he witnessed, with detailed explanation, what the surgical procedures were and how they would benefit the patient long term. As one doctor said, "Matthew is my young Padawon. I find this journey incredibly personal and moving, given the loss of his brother to pediatric brain cancer. [From that] has emerged a passion for research, action and cure.”  

“This is my second summer internship at Weill Cornell Medical College,” Matthew wrote on his LinkedIn profile. “I was invited back by Dr. Mark Souweidane's to participate in his lab, under the daily direction of Uday Maachani, PhD.” Souweidane is the Vice Chairman and Neurological Surgery Director of Pediatric Neurological Surgery. “It includes a team of technicians, fellows, and medical students to move the research forward.”

The "Summer Sprint," is a brief description of what Matthew has been doing this summer. "The final two participants in the summer 2016 research program have arrived in the Children’s Brain Tumor Project (CBTP) lab,” it reads on the weillcornellbrainandspine.org website.

Bernstein spent August helping kick start efforts to build a database of thalamic glioma samples. These samples, in combination with the data we are assembling through the online Thalamic Glioma registry, will be invaluable in new, specific research efforts dedicated to these rare brain tumors.