Consortium for Intracranial Metastasis Academic Research (CIMARa): Global interdisciplinary collaborations to improve outcomes of patient with brain metastases

Carey K Anders¹, Amanda E D Van Swearingen¹, Josh Neman², Johanna A Joyce³, Diana M Cittelly⁴, Manuel Valiente⁵, Alexandra S Zimmer⁶, Scott R Floyd^{7

1}, Ajay Dhakal⁸, Soma Sengupta⁹, Manmeet S Ahluwalia¹⁰, Seema Nagpal¹¹, Priya U Kumthekar¹², Sam Emerson¹³, Reva Basho¹⁴, Kathryn Beal¹⁵, Nelson S Moss¹⁶, Evangelia D Razis¹⁷, Jonathan T Yang¹⁸, Sarah L Sammons¹⁹, Solmaz Sahebjam^{20

21}, Hussein A Tawbi²²

Affiliations

¹ Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
² University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ University of Lausanne, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
⁵ Brain Metastasis Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Oregon Health State University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
⁷ Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
¹⁰ Miami Cancer Institute, Miami, Florida, USA.
¹¹ Division of Neuro-oncology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA.
¹² Northwester Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
¹³ Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
¹⁴ Ellison Medical Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹⁵ Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
¹⁶ Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, New York, USA.
¹⁷ Hygeia Hospital, Athens, Greece.
¹⁸ New York University, New York City, New York, USA.
¹⁹ Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
²⁰ Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
²¹ Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
²² Andrew M. McDougall Brain Metastasis Clinic and Research Program, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.

PMID: 40276376
PMCID: PMC12019957
DOI: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaf049

Review

Consortium for Intracranial Metastasis Academic Research (CIMARa): Global interdisciplinary collaborations to improve outcomes of patient with brain metastases

Carey K Anders et al. Neurooncol Adv. 2025.

. 2025 Mar 4;7(1):vdaf049.

doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaf049. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
² University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ University of Lausanne, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
⁵ Brain Metastasis Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Oregon Health State University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
⁷ Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
¹⁰ Miami Cancer Institute, Miami, Florida, USA.
¹¹ Division of Neuro-oncology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA.
¹² Northwester Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
¹³ Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
¹⁴ Ellison Medical Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹⁵ Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
¹⁶ Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, New York, USA.
¹⁷ Hygeia Hospital, Athens, Greece.
¹⁸ New York University, New York City, New York, USA.
¹⁹ Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
²⁰ Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
²¹ Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
²² Andrew M. McDougall Brain Metastasis Clinic and Research Program, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.

PMID: 40276376
PMCID: PMC12019957
DOI: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaf049

Erratum in

Correction to: Consortium for Intracranial Metastasis Academic Research (CIMARa): Global interdisciplinary collaborations to improve outcomes of patients with brain metastases.
[No authors listed] [No authors listed] Neurooncol Adv. 2025 Aug 9;7(1):vdaf167. doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaf167. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec. Neurooncol Adv. 2025. PMID: 40800121 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Brain metastases (BrM) arising from solid tumors is an ever-increasing and often devastating clinical challenge impacting hundreds of thousands of patients annually worldwide. As systemic anticancer therapies, and thus survival, improve, the risk for central nervous system (CNS) recurrence has increased. Historically, patients with BrM were excluded from clinical trials; however, there has been a shift toward increasing inclusion over the past decade. To most effectively design the next generation of clinical trials for patients with BrM, a multidisciplinary team spanning local and systemic therapies is imperative. CIMARa (Consortium for Intracranial Metastasis Academic Research), formalized in June 2021, is an inclusive group of multidisciplinary clinical investigators, research scientists, and advocates who share the collective goal of improving outcomes for patients with BrM. CIMARa aims to improve outcomes through the development, coordination, and awareness of multi-institutional clinical trials testing novel therapeutic agents for this unique patient population alongside the translation of preclinical research to the clinical setting.

Keywords: brain metastases; central nervous system metastases; clinical trials; consortium; research.

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Figures

**Figure 1.**
CIMARa membership. (A) Distribution of specialties within CIMARa membership. (B) Map of CIMARa members (n = 133) by institution (n = 62) and specialty, as of January 1, 2025.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Consortium for Intracranial Metastasis Academic Research (CIMARa): Global interdisciplinary collaborations to improve outcomes of patient with brain metastases

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Consortium for Intracranial Metastasis Academic Research (CIMARa): Global interdisciplinary collaborations to improve outcomes of patient with brain metastases

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