Dr. Gabriel Zada Talks About Personalized Care at the USC Brain Tumor Center

Rod Hanners, CEO of Keck Medicine of USC, talks with the director of the USC Brain Tumor Center.

“Conversations with Rod” is a video series featuring Rod Hanners, CEO of Keck Medicine of USC, talking with Keck Medicine doctors about our innovative medical care and research. In this video, Hanners sat down with Gabriel Zada, MD, a neurosurgeon at Keck Medicine, to discuss our patient-centered brain tumor care and state-of-the-art treatments at the USC Brain Tumor Center. Watch the full video below — or read excerpts from their conversation.

Interview Excerpts

How is the work at the USC Brain Tumor Center changing brain tumor care?

Gabriel Zada, MD: We always try to put ourselves in the role of the patient and family. And I always try to imagine what it’s like being diagnosed with a brain tumor. It has to be one of the most harrowing experiences and surreal experiences that anyone could have, whether it’s benign or malignant.

We see it as our role to guide and advise and treat and shepherd patients through this process. And that really takes a team approach, so we’re really trying to optimize the way that care is performed and see patients through that entire treatment process. Whether it starts with surgery and goes on to radiation or chemotherapy or other lines of treatment, we want to make that as easy and worry-free for patients as possible.

What treatment therapies are available at the USC Brain Tumor Center?

GZ: We try to get patients through this while really preserving their neurological function and their quality of life. And it really does take that. We never want to diminish a patient’s quality of life. We use every single advantage and piece of technology that’s available. We have so many new tools emerging all the time that we rely on, and we put them all together with new therapies and an amazing clinical care team to provide what I think is the most optimal treatment currently available for brain tumors.

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