
Overview
Dr. Christine Pratilas is a pediatric medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Oncology, Pediatrics & Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Hopkins pediatric sarcoma team in 2014. Dr. Pratilas received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Drew University in New Jersey and her medical degree from UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now Rutgers University), where she also completed her internship and residency from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005 she was a fellow in hematology and oncology in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) Department of Pediatrics, and in the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Neal Rosen’s Molecular Oncogenesis Laboratory at MSKCC. From 2006 to 2014 she was attending in Pediatric Oncology at MSKCC, specializing in developmental therapeutics & sarcoma. She has been the director of the pediatric sarcoma program at Hopkins since 2018. Dr. Pratilas focuses her research on cancer-associated pathways and signal transduction, which involves figuring out how a cell’s internal molecular pathways work, and how those pathways can be molecularly controlled. This knowledge is the basis for developing promising new molecularly targeted cancer therapies, which is the focus of Dr. Pratilas’s research. Among her important scientific contributions is advancing our understanding of how certain proteins that can be mutated in cancer, known as RAF kinases (specifically BRAF), affect a cancer cell’s behavior. The research in Dr. Pratilas' laboratory is focused on RAS signal transduction pathways, concentrating on pediatric sarcomas such as rhabdomyosarcoma and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, in order to develop novel therapeutics for children with these tumors.
Dr. Pratilas is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor, Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), Neurofibromatosis, Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma, and Osteotomy.
Her clinical research consists of co-authoring 97 peer reviewed articles and participating in 9 clinical trials. MediFind looks at clinical research from the past 15 years. In particular, she has co-authored 2 articles in the study of Retinoblastoma.
Insurance
Accepted insurance can change. Please verify directly with the provider.
Accepted insurance plans:
- EPO
- HMO
- POS
- PPO
- HMO
- POS
- PPO
- EPO
- HMO
- PPO
- INSURANCE PLAN
- MEDICARE PDP
- PPO
- HMO
- POS
- PPO
- HMO
- INDEMNITY
- POS
- PPO
- HMO
- MANAGED MEDICAID PLAN
- MEDICARE MAPD
- MEDICARE-MEDICAID PLAN
Locations
Bloomberg 11N, Baltimore, MD 21287
Additional Areas of Focus
Dr. Pratilas has provided the following conditions as areas of focus. Please note that we may not have enough data to validate their experience in some of these conditions.
Clinical Research
Clinical research consists of overseeing clinical studies of patients undergoing new treatments and therapies, and publishing articles in peer reviewed medical journals. Providers who actively participate in clinical research are generally at the forefront of the fields and aware of the most up-to-date advances in treatments for their patients.
9 Clinical Trials
Skip Viragh Outpatient Cancer Center
Dr. Kenneth Pienta is the Donald S. Coffey Professor of Urology and a professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He also holds an appointment in the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences. He is an internationally recognized leader in prostate cancer research and translational science. Dr. Pienta serves as the director of research for the Brady Urological Institute and co-leader of the Kimmel Cancer Center's Prostate Cancer Program. Dr. Pienta has a proven, peer-reviewed track record in organizing and administering a translational research program that successfully incorporates bench research, agent development and clinical application. He has international expertise in the development of novel chemotherapeutic programs for prostate cancer and has championed the concept that translational research is often best accomplished by multi-disciplinary teams of scientists and clinicians. Under his direction, the success of these endeavors led to the receipt of the first annual American Association for Cancer Research Team Science Award in 2007. Dr. Pienta received his B.A. in human biology from the Johns Hopkins University. He earned his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and performed a fellowship in oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Pienta was the associate vice president for research, health sciences for the University of the Michigan from 2012 to 2013 and director of precision medicine for the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology from 2008 to 2013. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2013. Dr. Pienta's research interests include the ecology of cancer, tumor microenvironment, metastasis, biomarker development and novel therapeutic development. Dr. Pienta is a two-time American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor Award recipient. He holds several patents, has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and has been the principle investigator on numerous local and national clinical trials. Dr. Pienta is currently actively developing clinical trials and treating patients with newly diagnosed high risk and metastatic prostate cancer. Dr. Pienta is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Prostate Cancer, Bone Tumor, Familial Prostate Cancer, Prostatectomy, and Orchiectomy.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
James T. Handa, M.D., is Chief of the Retina Division and the Robert Bond Welch, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute. He specializes in medical and surgical management of complex vitreoretinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachment, retinopathy of prematurity and other pediatric retinal diseases. He also has expertise in intraocular oncology and manages patients with choroidal melanomas and metastatic tumors of the eye. Not only is he a highly skilled surgeon and clinician, but he also devotes significant effort to research related to the early causes of age-related macular degeneration using molecular pathological approaches to understand how the eye transforms from normal aging to early disease. He has been funded by the National Eye Institute for the last 19 years, and he currently holds two R01 awards for his work in AMD. He has also been funded by the Thome Foundation, Research to Prevent Blindness, Fight for Sight and the American Health Assistance Foundation. His other research focuses on surgical innovation using an integrated robotic surgical system. Dr. Handa is currently the Wilmer Eye Institute’s implanting surgeon for the Argus II retinal chip implant, which was recently approved by the FDA after Dr. Handa participated in the clinical trial leading to its approval. Dr. Handa is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. His top areas of expertise are Melanoma of the Eye, Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration, Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, and Vitrectomy.
University Of Maryland Oncology Associates PA
Ranee Mehra is an Oncologist and a Hematologist in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Mehra is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Retinoblastoma. Her top areas of expertise are Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), Lung Cancer, Tongue Cancer, and Glossectomy. Dr. Mehra is currently accepting new patients.
Areas of Expertise
MediFind evaluates expertise by pulling from factors such as number of articles a doctor has published in medical journals, participation in clinical trials, speaking at industry conferences, prescribing and referral patterns, and strength of connections with other experts in their field.
Learn more about MediFind’s expert tiers
- Elite
- Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor
- NeurofibromatosisDr. Pratilas isElite. Learn about Neurofibromatosis.
- Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1)Dr. Pratilas isElite. Learn about Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1).
- Distinguished
- Adult Soft Tissue SarcomaDr. Pratilas isDistinguished. Learn about Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma.
- Advanced
- Desmoplastic Small Round Cell TumorDr. Pratilas isAdvanced. Learn about Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor.
- Ewing SarcomaDr. Pratilas isAdvanced. Learn about Ewing Sarcoma.
- GliomaDr. Pratilas isAdvanced. Learn about Glioma.
- OsteosarcomaDr. Pratilas isAdvanced. Learn about Osteosarcoma.
- RhabdomyosarcomaDr. Pratilas isAdvanced. Learn about Rhabdomyosarcoma.
- Experienced
- Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)Dr. Pratilas isExperienced. Learn about Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).
- Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered RosettesDr. Pratilas isExperienced. Learn about Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered Rosettes.
- Langerhans Cell HistiocytosisDr. Pratilas isExperienced. Learn about Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis.
- Legius SyndromeDr. Pratilas isExperienced. Learn about Legius Syndrome.
- LeukemiaDr. Pratilas isExperienced. Learn about Leukemia.
- NeuroblastomaDr. Pratilas isExperienced. Learn about Neuroblastoma.

