Dr. Tatsui, originally from Brazil, came to MD Anderson from the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. Debakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston. His areas of expertise include surgery of spine tumors and primary and metastatic brain tumors and technologies to treat brain and spine tumors. Dr. Tatsui is working on ground-breaking research at MD Anderson, such as creating an animal model that can reproduce the symptoms of spine tumors in humans, so he can test treatment interventions. The goal is to help individualize a patient's treatment plan. His research interest will also help advance the understanding of how tumors invade the spine and what mechanisms of spread might provide novel therapeutic targets.