Michael Taylor, MD, PhD, FRCS(C)
- Cancer and Blood Disorders

The Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Chair of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology, Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center
Director, Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine
Scholar, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas
Office location:
1102 Bates Avenue
Houston, TX 77030
Get to know Michael Taylor, MD, PhD, FRCS(C)
Dr. Taylor is a pediatric neurosurgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital and a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics – Hematology/Oncology, and Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. He is also the Director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Program at Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center and a CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research. His research centers on the molecular genetics of medulloblastoma and ependymoma, two of the most common malignant pediatric brain tumors. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed publications, many in high-impact journals such as Nature, Science, Cell, Cancer Cell and Lancet Oncology. His publications have been cited over 70,000 times and his findings adopted to improve clinical practice. His group demonstrated that medulloblastoma is composed of at least four distinct diseases (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2012; Cancer Cell, 2017; Nature, 2017) and that there is clinically significant heterogeneity in metastatic medulloblastomas (Nature, 2012, 2016; Nature Genetics, 2017). His team recently showed that cerebellar tumors are a disorder of early brain development (Nature, 2019; Nature, 2022; Cell, 2024), that CAR-T-cells are an effective preclinical treatment for Group 3 medulloblastoma and PFA ependymomas (Nature Medicine, 2020) and that PFA ependymomas have a unique metabolic program, which leads to a phenotype that appears to be unique among mammalian cells (Cell, 2020).
Education
School | Education | Degree | Year |
---|---|---|---|
University of Toronto | Post-doctoral Fellowship | Functional Genomics | 2005 |
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital | Post-doctoral Fellowship | Cancer Genomics | 2004 |
University of Toronto | FRCS | FRCS Neurosurgery | 2003 |
University of Toronto | PhD | Doctor of Philosophy, Molecular Genetics of Paediatric Brain Tumours | 2002 |
University of Western Ontario | Medical School | Doctor of Medicine | 1994 |
Organizations
Organization Name | Role |
---|---|
Royal Society of Canada | Fellow and Member |
Awards
2008 Canada’s Top 40 under 40 award
2009 Canadian Cancer Society Award. Young Investigator Award in Biomedical Science
2010 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Gold Medal Award in Surgery
2010 Canadian Institute of Health Research, Clinician-Scientist Award, Phase II - Renewal
2011 George-Armstrong Peters Prize in Surgery, University of Toronto
2013 Garron Family Endowed Chair in Childhood Cancer Research, Hospital for Sick Children
2015 Canadian Cancer Society William E. Rawls Prize for 2015
2016 Lister Prize in Surgery. University of Toronto 2016
2016 Voynick Award in Neuro-Oncology 2016. Yale University
2016 Guha Award in Neuro-Oncology 2016. Society for Neuro-Oncology
2016 Zulch Prize in Basic Neuroscience 2016. Max Planck Society
2019 H. Richard Winn, MD Prize. The Society of Neurological Surgeons
2019 The Distinguished Oliver Smithies Lecture. McLaughlin Centre of the University of Toronto
2019 Fellow and Member of the Royal Society of Canada
* Texas Children’s Hospital physicians’ licenses and credentials are reviewed prior to practicing at any of our facilities. Sections titled From the Doctor, Professional Organizations and Publications were provided by the physician’s office and were not verified by Texas Children’s Hospital.
Highlights
Research Area:
Brain Tumors
The Taylor Lab’s research centers on the molecular genetics of medulloblastoma and ependymoma, two of the most common malignant pediatric brain tumors.