Verena Staedtke

Verena Staedtke, a neurologist and neuro-oncologist who dedicated her career to neurofibromatosis and rare nervous system tumors, died on March 31, 2025, from advanced breast cancer. She was 44.

An associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins and director of pediatric neurofibromatosis at the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center, Staedtke was known for her groundbreaking work in neuro-oncology and gene-based therapeutics. Her recent research led to revolutionary advancements in NF1 gene replacement therapy, including a novel AAV vector platform now being prepared for clinical translation and a clinical trial using an oncolytic virus to treat skin tumors in NF1 — innovations with patents pending.

“Verena was quite simply the exemplar of a passionate and dedicated physician-scientist,” says Justin C. McArthur, director of the Department of Neurology. “Her scientific creativity and curiosity was matched by an amazing work ethic. And, equally impressive, and unusual for someone with her accomplishments, was her humility.”

Born in Schwedt, Germany, she earned her M.D. and Ph.D. from Charité-Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, receiving the prestigious pre-doctoral Robert Koch Prize for her work in biologic drug delivery. At Johns Hopkins, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Bert Vogelstein and Gregory Riggins, and led pioneering research on the oncolytic bacterium Clostridium novyi-NT for glioblastomas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. Her subsequent work revealed the role of catecholamines in inflammatory responses to immunotherapies.

In 2018, she was a Francis Collins Scholar and a recipient of the Sontag Foundation’s Distinguished Scientist Award. In 2023, she received the Children’s Tumor Foundation’s Make NF Visible Clinician Award.

She is survived by her life partner and research collaborator, Renyuan Bai, an associate professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, and their children.