Dr. Chiocca is deeply interested both in the biological basis of brain cancer and in designing experimental therapeutics. His lab is focusing on developing novel genetic therapies, with one major approach being the engineering of viruses that can kill tumor cells without affecting normal brain cells. Dr. Chiocca is currently combining this research with novel pharmacological and immunotherapeutic approaches for brain cancer. Dr. Chiocca serves as the Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham & Women's Hospital and the Harvey W. Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, positions he has held since 2012. Prior to these roles, Dr. Chiocca held assistant professor and associate professor faculty positions at Massachusetts General Hospital and in 2004, became the first Chairman of the newly developed Department of Neurological Surgery at the Ohio State University Medical Center, where he held the Dardinger Family Endowed Chair in Oncological Neurosurgery. Dr. Chiocca is an AAAS fellow, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) in 2014, and is a past President of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. In 2021, Dr. Chiocca was named secretary of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).