Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery
Director, Clinicaly-related Neuro-oncology Laboratory



1365B Clifton Rd., NE, Ste. 6400
Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Phone: 404-778-5780
Email: Jeffrey.Olson@emoryhealthcare.org
Faculty Page

Dr. Olson received his MD from the University of Minnesota. He underwent his neurosurgical residency training at the University of Iowa, followed by 3 years as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. His primary interest is in neuro-oncology, with significant laboratory effort investigating drug delivery modulation of tumor proliferation. Dr. Olson's neurosurgical practice and research revolve around the biology and therapy of brain tumors. Patients with primary malignant brain tumors offer an excellent opportunity to carry out clinical research. Emory's multidisciplinary neuro-oncology team utilizes a number of therapeutic protocols designed to take advantage of the molecular and anatomic characteristics of brain tumors. Input from professionals with basic science, medical oncology, neurology, radiology, radiation oncology and neurosurgical backgrounds afford the patient and the neurosurgical trainee the best exposure to the therapeutic options available in a wide variety of cases. His areas of clinical interest include acoustic neuroma, brain tumors (Emory PI for the NCI-sponsored new approaches to brain tumor therapies-CNS Consortium), cerebrospinal fluid leakage, cranial nerve disorder, lesions of the anterior and posterior skullbase and stereotactic surgery.

Program Leadership

Dr. Olson is the principal adult brain tumor neurosurgeon, the Director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology, and the Chair of the Neuro-oncology working group at Emory University since 1990. He was previously a Senior Staff Fellow with the Surgical Neurology Branch of the NINDS. He is the co-founder of the multidisciplinary Adult Brain Tumor Clinic at Emory and his clinical practice treats patients with surgery, cytotoxic chemotherapy, biologic agents and radiation therapy. Since 1998 he is the Emory PI in the NCI funded New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy CNS Consortium. Successful translational work has included development of the Gliasite RTS device for the radiation of recurrent brain tumors from the bench to FDA approval. He is now developing surrogate markers for assessment of brain tumor response to new biologic therapies with Dr. Mark Goodman using fluorinated synthetic amino acids (FACBC) and positron emission tomography. At the national level, Dr. Olson is a member of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons and serves as the Chair of the Guidelines Committee of the Joint Section on Tumors of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and American Association of Neurologic Surgeons.