Rob Harrison

Papers

Total Citations

162

H-Index

About

Rob Harrison is a pioneering biomedical engineer and neuro-oncology researcher whose work focuses on overcoming the blood-brain barrier to treat lethal brain cancers. His major contributions center on convection-enhanced delivery (CED)—a technique that bypasses the BBB to infuse chemotherapeutics directly into brain tissue. Harrison’s landmark 2013 study on robot-guided CED of carboplatin for advanced brainstem glioma (89 citations) demonstrated the feasibility of precise, image-guided drug delivery to previously inaccessible tumor sites. He further advanced the field with a 2014 study introducing a novel implantable catheter system with a transcutaneous port for intermittent CED in recurrent glioblastoma (73 citations). These innovations address the critical failure of systemic chemotherapy to penetrate the brain, offering a targeted approach that improves drug distribution while reducing systemic toxicity. Harrison’s work has been instrumental in translating CED from preclinical models into clinical trials, and his catheter designs have influenced subsequent device development. With over 160 combined citations for these two papers, Harrison is recognized as a key figure in neurosurgical oncology, bridging robotics, drug delivery, and neuropathology to improve outcomes for patients with devastating brain tumors.