Samuel Sprowls

Dr. Samuel A. Sprowls completed his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, with a focus on neuro-pharmacokinetics, under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Paul R. Lockman at the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy. Following graduation, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in adult neuro-oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Justin D. Lathia, studying how the tumor microenvironment and biological sex contribute to blood-brain barrier alterations during tumor progression. Dr. Sprowls completed a second postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric neuro-oncology at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Dr. Sameer Agnihotri, interrogating novel drivers of pediatric ependymoma. For his work in graduate school and throughout his postdoctoral fellowships, he was awarded the National Cancer Institute Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition award (F99/K00) with the goal of translating novel therapeutic vulnerabilities at the vascular level into the next generation of therapeutic options for those with primary and secondary brain tumors. 

He also serves as a Venture Philanthropy Fellow for the Sontag Foundation Innovation Fund, which provides early-stage investment opportunities for the acceleration of development of novel therapeutics to diagnose, treat, prevent, and cure brain cancers. 

Dr. Sprowls’ ongoing research interests are primarily focused on the role of the blood-brain barrier in tumor development, pharmacokinetics, and development of novel cancer therapies.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute
• Ph.D., Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, West Virginia University School of Pharmacy
• B.S., Waynesburg University