Asher Marks, MD

Asher Marks, MD's, neuro-oncology research focuses on closing the gap that leaves adolescents and young adults (AYAs) between pediatric and adult care. He is International Study Chair of PNOC017, a multi-institutional, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported trial and the first early-phase study designed specifically for AYAs with IDH-mutant gliomas, testing PARP inhibition with temozolomide. With colleagues, he has shown that racial and ethnic minority, lower-income, and rural AYAs with CNS tumors face higher risk of death, and, in a Children's Oncology Group analysis of more than 21,000 trial participants, that AYAs and minority patients are disproportionately lost to follow-up. He serves on the Children's Oncology Group AYA and CNS social determinants of health working groups and the NCCN Pediatric CNS Cancers Panel.

In parallel, Dr. Marks leads a program applying extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence to supportive care. Through XRPeds, he published the first protocol for therapist-guided social virtual reality support groups for AYAs with cancer, a model since replicated internationally and adapted for transgender and gender-expansive youth. He is first author of the The American Medical Extended Reality Association (AMXRA) Guidelines on Extended Reality and Children, and, with Yale infection prevention and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) colleagues, has established standards for disinfecting virtual reality (VR) equipment in clinical settings. His current work includes Life at 100.4, an NIH STTR-funded social VR program teaching AYAs to recognize and respond to febrile neutropenia. His writing on "techquity" examines how artificial intelligence (AI) and immersive tools can narrow, rather than widen, disparities in pediatric and AYA oncology.

His research has been supported by more than $3 million from the NIH, CDC, Meta Reality Labs, and private philanthropy. He has delivered more than 40 national and international talks, including at Columbia University, MIT Reality Hack, and the Game Developers Conference.