Eben Lloyd Rosenthal, M.D.

Professor

eben.l.rosenthal.1@vanderbilt.edu
Faculty Appointments
Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Barry and Amy Baker Chair in Laryngeal, Head and Neck ResearchBarry and Amy Baker Chair in Laryngeal, Head and Neck ResearchProfessor of Pathology, Microbiology and ImmunologyProfessor of Pathology, Microbiology and ImmunologyProfessor of Radiology & Radiological SciencesProfessor of Radiology & Radiological SciencesProfessor of Biomedical EngineeringProfessor of Biomedical Engineering
Education
M.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MichiganB.A., Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Research Description
Eben L. Rosenthal is the Professor and Chair of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is a surgeon-scientist with an active oncologic and microvascular reconstructive surgery practice.

Beginning in 2021, Dr. Rosenthal became the Chair of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Director of the Bill Wilkerson Center where he works with a team of 65 faculty to delivery high complexity otolaryngology care across the Southeast. Between 2015 – 2021 he served as the John and Ann Doerr Medical Director of the Stanford Cancer Center where he worked collaboratively with Stanford Health Care leaders to set the strategy for the clinical delivery of cancer care across the Bay Area.

Dr. Rosenthal has been continually funded by the NIH for the past 15 years to conduct bench to bedside translational studies in targeted therapy and molecular imaging. He has conducted over a dozen early phase clinical trials for diagnostic and therapeutic agents for the treatment of solid tumors. He is part of a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and basic scientists that perform preclinical and human studies to assesses near infrared fluorescent contrast agents for use in the operating room to make the cancer visible. The lab also focuses on molecular imaging of fluorescently labeled therapeutic antibodies to measure cellular delivery of therapies to tumors and adjacent tissues.

Eben grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and went to Medical School and Residency at the University of Michigan after attending Haverford College for his undergraduate education. He loves dogs, outdoor activities, travel and reading (listening) to fiction and nonfiction.


Clinical Description
Dr. Eben Rosenthal from Stanford University School of Medicine discussed clinical studies evaluating the use of fluorescently labeled anti-EGFR antibodies in the detection of primary tumor and lymph nodes in head and neck cancer. Dr. Rosenthal’s group has validated that the tracers bind directly to tumor cells and tumor fluorescence is directly correlated to EGFR expression. Currently, his group is focusing efforts on the use of panitumumab conjugated to IRDye800 for NIR surgical navigation24.
It is worth noting some of the advantages of antibody-based surgical imaging. Clinical trials have been conducted in multiple cancer types including brain (Journal of Neuro-Oncology volume 139, pages135–143(2018)), colon (https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-020-09069-2), pancreatic (https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(20)30088-1). Unlike activated probes, antibodies are more likely to be retained within the tumor cell, less complex and less costly to manufacture, and generate more safety concerns.

He then presented four distinct applications of NIR imaging in head and neck cancer which are applicable for any probe and include: detecting additional disease, evaluating sentinel margin negative status, evaluating deep residual margin disease, and sentinel margin positivity.
IMI has an important role in head and neck cancer. Dr. Rosenthal’s clinical studies have demonstrated that if using a sufficiently specific probe, IMI in head and neck cancer can detect satellite lesions in the oral cavity that were undetectable by white-light, and which would have otherwise been left behind resulting in recurrent disease. Since a positive margin in head and neck cancer is when tumor approaches within 5 mm of the cut surface of the specimen. Therefore, is necessary to detect tumor that is close to the surface of the specimen. IMI can identify and orient sentinel margin positive status (margin that is most likely to be positive) for the pathologist, as head and neck cancers are notoriously difficult to spatially orient when resected. Additionally, lack of fluorescence in an EGFR positive tumor can reassure the surgeon that the deep margin and sentinel margin negative (margin that is likely to be negative) is truly negative with appropriate margin distance25. In addition to real-time guidance IMI can assist the surgeon during analysis of the specimen. After removal, the specimen can be placed inside a closed-field imaging device (LI-COR Biosciences) that allows quantitative imaging. The relative intensity was then analyzed and it was found that the closest margin could be identified as the highest intensity area of fluorescence (the sentinel margin)26.
There is also the potential to use antibody-based IMI to assess tumor-positive and sentinel lymph nodes after systemic administration of the labeled antibody. Compared to conventional means of sentinel node identification where the gamma tracer is injected directly into tumor tissue, anti-EGFR labeled tracers are injected systemically. This not only allows for identification of malignant tissues but any metastatic node, even if it is not in the first draining basin. Dr. Rosenthal concluded his remarks by pointing out that the tracers are not only limited to head and neck malignancies but have shown efficacy in HGG and pancreatic malignancies as well13.


Research Keywords
Molecular imaging, surgery, surgical guidance, fluorescence guided surgery, cancer, oncology, head and neck cancer, drug delivery, antibody based therapy, targeted therapeutics, chemotherapy, EGFR, HER2, molecular biology, preclinical in vivo cancer models,
Publications
Krishnan G, Cousins A, Pham N, Milanova V, Nelson M, Krishnan S, van den Berg NS, Shetty A, Rosenthal EL, Wormald PJ, Thierry B, Foreman A, Krishnan S. Preclinical feasibility of robot-assisted sentinel lymph node biopsy using multi-modality magnetic and fluorescence guidance in the head and neck. Head Neck [print-electronic]. 2022 Dec; 44(12): 2696-707. PMID: 36082404, DOI: 10.1002/hed.27177, ISSN: 1097-0347.

Henderson ER, Hebert KA, Werth PM, Streeter SS, Rosenthal EL, Paulsen KD, Pogue BW, Samkoe KS. Fluorescence guidance improves the accuracy of radiological imaging-guided surgical navigation. J Surg Oncol [print-electronic]. 2022 Oct 10/26/2022; PMID: 36285723, DOI: 10.1002/jso.27128, ISSN: 1096-9098.

Goodyer WR, Beyersdorf BM, Duan L, van den Berg NS, Mantri S, Galdos FX, Puluca N, Buikema JW, Lee S, Salmi D, Robinson ER, Rogalla S, Cogan DP, Khosla C, Rosenthal EL, Wu SM. In vivo visualization and molecular targeting of the cardiac conduction system. J Clin Invest. 2022 Oct 10/17/2022; 132(20): PMID: 35951416, PMCID: PMC9566899, PII: 156955, DOI: 10.1172/JCI156955, ISSN: 1558-8238.

Lee YJ, van den Berg NS, Duan H, Azevedo EC, Ferri V, Hom M, Raymundo RC, Valencia A, Castillo J, Shen B, Zhou Q, Freeman L, Koran ME, Kaplan MJ, Colevas AD, Baik FM, Chin FT, Martin BA, Iagaru A, Rosenthal EL. 89Zr-panitumumab Combined With 18F-FDG PET Improves Detection and Staging of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Oct 10/14/2022; 28(20): 4425-34. PMID: 35929985, PII: 707464, DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0094, ISSN: 1557-3265.

Martin E, Hom M, Mani L, Rosenthal EL. Current and Future Applications of Fluorescence-Guided Surgery in Head and Neck Cancer. Surg Oncol Clin N Am [print-electronic]. 2022 Oct; 31(4): 695-706. PMID: 36243502, PII: S1055-3207(22)00051-5, DOI: 10.1016/j.soc.2022.07.001, ISSN: 1558-5042.

Sharif KF, Lewis JS, Ely KA, Mehrad M, Pruthi S, Netterville JL, Rohde SL, Langerman A, Mannion K, Sinard RJ, Rosenthal EL, Topf MC. The computer-aided design margin: Ex vivo 3D specimen mapping to improve communication between surgeons and pathologists. Head Neck [print-electronic]. 2022 Sep 9/26/2022; PMID: 36156327, DOI: 10.1002/hed.27201, ISSN: 1097-0347.

Van Keulen S, Hom M, White H, Rosenthal EL, Baik FM. The Evolution of Fluorescence-Guided Surgery. Mol Imaging Biol [print-electronic]. 2022 Sep 9/19/2022; PMID: 36123445, PII: 10.1007/s11307-022-01772-8, DOI: 10.1007/s11307-022-01772-8, ISSN: 1860-2002.

Aryal M, Azadian MM, Hart AR, Macedo N, Zhou Q, Rosenthal EL, Airan RD. Noninvasive ultrasonic induction of cerebrospinal fluid flow enhances intrathecal drug delivery. J Control Release [print-electronic]. 2022 Sep; 349: 434-42. PMID: 35798095, PII: S0168-3659(22)00409-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.06.067, ISSN: 1873-4995.

Nishio N, Mitani S, Sakamoto K, Morimoto G, Yokoi S, Shigeyama M, Wada A, Mukoyama N, Rosenthal EL, Sone M. Validation of a surgical training model containing indocyanine green for near-infrared fluorescence imaging. Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. 2022 Aug; 7(4): 1011-7. PMID: 36000046, PMCID: PMC9392384, PII: LIO2858, DOI: 10.1002/lio2.858, ISSN: 2378-8038.

Krishnan G, van den Berg NS, Nishio N, Kapoor S, Pei J, Freeman L, Lee YJ, Zhou Q, van Keulen S, Farkurnejad S, Condon J, Baik FM, Martin BA, Rosenthal EL. Fluorescent Molecular Imaging Can Improve Intraoperative Sentinel Margin Detection in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. J Nucl Med [print-electronic]. 2022 Aug; 63(8): 1162-8. PMID: 35027369, PMCID: PMC9364343, PII: jnumed.121.262235, DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.121.262235, ISSN: 1535-5667.

Youn GM, Case AG, Jarin T, Li B, Swarup A, Naranjo A, Bou-Khalil C, Yao J, Zhou Q, Hom ME, Rosenthal EL, Wu AY. The Use of Panitumumab-IRDye800CW in a Novel Murine Model for Conjunctival Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2022 Jul 7/8/2022; 11(7): 23. PMID: 35895055, PMCID: PMC9344218, PII: 2783516, DOI: 10.1167/tvst.11.7.23, ISSN: 2164-2591.

Pal R, Hom ME, van den Berg NS, Lwin TM, Lee YJ, Prilutskiy A, Faquin W, Yang E, Saladi SV, Varvares MA, Rosenthal EL, Kumar ATN. First Clinical Results of Fluorescence Lifetime-enhanced Tumor Imaging Using Receptor-targeted Fluorescent Probes. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Jun 6/1/2022; 28(11): 2373-84. PMID: 35302604, PMCID: PMC9167767, PII: 682264, DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-3429, ISSN: 1557-3265.

Lu G, Baertsch MA, Hickey JW, Goltsev Y, Rech AJ, Mani L, Forgó E, Kong C, Jiang S, Nolan GP, Rosenthal EL. A real-time GPU-accelerated parallelized image processor for large-scale multiplexed fluorescence microscopy data. Front Immunol. 2022; 13: 981825. PMID: 36211386, PMCID: PMC9539451, DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.981825, ISSN: 1664-3224.

Henderson ER, Werth P, Xu X, Jarvis LA, Paulsen KD, Hoopes PJ, Rosenthal EL, Pogue BW, Samkoe KS. Epidermal growth factor-targeted fluorescence is unaffected by standard neoadjuvant therapies in human sarcomas. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng [print-electronic]. 2022 Jan; 119430: PMID: 36052271, PMCID: PMC9430829, DOI: 10.1117/12.2610226, ISSN: 0277-786X.

Lee YJ, van den Berg NS, Orosco RK, Rosenthal EL, Sorger JM. A narrative review of fluorescence imaging in robotic-assisted surgery. Laparosc Surg [print-electronic]. 2021 Jul; 5: PMID: 34549180, PMCID: PMC8452263, DOI: 10.21037/ls-20-98, ISSN: 2616-4221.

Nishio N, van den Berg NS, Martin BA, van Keulen S, Fakurnejad S, Rosenthal EL, Wilson KE. Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging for the Identification of Lymph Node Metastasis in Head and Neck Cancer Using an Anti-EGFR Antibody-Dye Conjugate. J Nucl Med [print-electronic]. 2021 May 5/10/2021; 62(5): 648-55. PMID: 33008927, PMCID: PMC8844260, PII: jnumed.120.245241, DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.120.245241, ISSN: 1535-5667.

Zhou Q, Vega Leonel JCM, Santoso MR, Wilson C, van den Berg NS, Chan CT, Aryal M, Vogel H, Cayrol R, Mandella MJ, Schonig F, Lu G, Gambhir SS, Moseley ME, Rosenthal EL, Grant GA. Molecular imaging of a fluorescent antibody against epidermal growth factor receptor detects high-grade glioma. Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 3/11/2021; 11(1): 5710. PMID: 33707521, PMCID: PMC7952570, PII: 10.1038/s41598-021-84831-4, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-84831-4, ISSN: 2045-2322.

Lee YJ, Krishnan G, Nishio N, van den Berg NS, Lu G, Martin BA, van Keulen S, Colevas AD, Kapoor S, Liu JTC, Rosenthal EL. Intraoperative Fluorescence-Guided Surgery in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Laryngoscope [print-electronic]. 2021 Mar; 131(3): 529-34. PMID: 33593036, DOI: 10.1002/lary.28822, ISSN: 1531-4995.

Tummers WS, Miller SE, Teraphongphom NT, van den Berg NS, Hasan A, Longacre TA, Fisher GA, Bonsing BA, Vahrmeijer AL, Gambhir SS, Swijnenburg RJ, Rosenthal EL, Poultsides GA. Detection of visually occult metastatic lymph nodes using molecularly targeted fluorescent imaging during surgical resection of pancreatic cancer. HPB (Oxford) [print-electronic]. 2019 Jul; 21(7): 883-90. PMID: 30723062, PII: S1365-182X(18)34559-3, DOI: 10.1016/j.hpb.2018.11.008, ISSN: 1477-2574.

Walsh EM, Cole D, Tipirneni KE, Bland KI, Udayakumar N, Kasten BB, Bevans SL, McGrew BM, Kain JJ, Nguyen QT, Rosenthal EL, Warram JM. Fluorescence Imaging of Nerves During Surgery. Ann Surg. 2019 Jul; 270(1): 69-76. PMID: 30649014, DOI: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000003130, ISSN: 1528-1140.

van Keulen S, Nishio N, Fakurnejad S, Birkeland A, Martin BA, Lu G, Zhou Q, Chirita SU, Forouzanfar T, Colevas AD, van den Berg NS, Rosenthal EL. The Clinical Application of Fluorescence-Guided Surgery in Head and Neck Cancer. J Nucl Med [print-electronic]. 2019 Jun; 60(6): 758-63. PMID: 30733319, PMCID: PMC6581234, PII: jnumed.118.222810, DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.118.222810, ISSN: 1535-5667.

van Keulen S, van den Berg NS, Nishio N, Birkeland A, Zhou Q, Lu G, Wang HW, Middendorf L, Forouzanfar T, Martin BA, Colevas AD, Rosenthal EL. Rapid, non-invasive fluorescence margin assessment: Optical specimen mapping in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncol [print-electronic]. 2019 Jan; 88: 58-65. PMID: 30616798, PMCID: PMC6530934, PII: S1368-8375(18)30419-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2018.11.012, ISSN: 1879-0593.

Tummers WS, Rosenthal EL, Vahrmeijer AL, Poultsides GA. ASO Author Reflections: Fluorescent-Guided Surgery to Augment Pancreatic Cancer Surgery. Ann Surg Oncol [print-electronic]. 2018 Dec; 25(Suppl 3): 820-1. PMID: 30315384, PMCID: PMC6333482, PII: 10.1245/s10434-018-6904-9, DOI: 10.1245/s10434-018-6904-9, ISSN: 1534-4681.

Pogue BW, Rosenthal EL, Achilefu S, van Dam GM. Perspective review of what is needed for molecular-specific fluorescence-guided surgery. J Biomed Opt. 2018 Oct; 23(10): 1-9. PMID: 30291698, PMCID: PMC6210787, PII: JBO-180464-PER, DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.23.10.100601, ISSN: 1560-2281.

Gao RW, Teraphongphom NT, van den Berg NS, Martin BA, Oberhelman NJ, Divi V, Kaplan MJ, Hong SS, Lu G, Ertsey R, Tummers WSFJ, Gomez AJ, Holsinger FC, Kong CS, Colevas AD, Warram JM, Rosenthal EL. Determination of Tumor Margins with Surgical Specimen Mapping Using Near-Infrared Fluorescence. Cancer Res [print-electronic]. 2018 Sep 9/1/2018; 78(17): 5144-54. PMID: 29967260, PMCID: PMC6125224, PII: 0008-5472.CAN-18-0878, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-0878, ISSN: 1538-7445.

Miller SE, Tummers WS, Teraphongphom N, van den Berg NS, Hasan A, Ertsey RD, Nagpal S, Recht LD, Plowey ED, Vogel H, Harsh GR, Grant GA, Li GH, Rosenthal EL. First-in-human intraoperative near-infrared fluorescence imaging of glioblastoma using cetuximab-IRDye800. J Neurooncol [print-electronic]. 2018 Aug; 139(1): 135-43. PMID: 29623552, PMCID: PMC6031450, PII: 10.1007/s11060-018-2854-0, DOI: 10.1007/s11060-018-2854-0, ISSN: 1573-7373.

Tummers WS, Miller SE, Teraphongphom NT, Gomez A, Steinberg I, Huland DM, Hong S, Kothapalli SR, Hasan A, Ertsey R, Bonsing BA, Vahrmeijer AL, Swijnenburg RJ, Longacre TA, Fisher GA, Gambhir SS, Poultsides GA, Rosenthal EL. Intraoperative Pancreatic Cancer Detection using Tumor-Specific Multimodality Molecular Imaging. Ann Surg Oncol [print-electronic]. 2018 Jul; 25(7): 1880-8. PMID: 29667116, PMCID: PMC5977989, PII: 10.1245/s10434-018-6453-2, DOI: 10.1245/s10434-018-6453-2, ISSN: 1534-4681.

Divi V, Chen MM, Hara W, Shah D, Narvasa K, Segura Smith A, Kelley J, Rosenthal EL, Porter J. Reducing the Time from Surgery to Adjuvant Radiation Therapy: An Institutional Quality Improvement Project. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg [print-electronic]. 2018 Jul; 159(1): 158-65. PMID: 29631478, DOI: 10.1177/0194599818768254, ISSN: 1097-6817.

Tummers WS, Warram JM, van den Berg NS, Miller SE, Swijnenburg RJ, Vahrmeijer AL, Rosenthal EL. Recommendations for reporting on emerging optical imaging agents to promote clinical approval. Theranostics. 2018; 8(19): 5336-47. PMID: 30555550, PMCID: PMC6276089, PII: thnov08p5336, DOI: 10.7150/thno.27384, ISSN: 1838-7640.

Gao RW, Teraphongphom N, de Boer E, van den Berg NS, Divi V, Kaplan MJ, Oberhelman NJ, Hong SS, Capes E, Colevas AD, Warram JM, Rosenthal EL. Safety of panitumumab-IRDye800CW and cetuximab-IRDye800CW for fluorescence-guided surgical navigation in head and neck cancers. Theranostics. 2018; 8(9): 2488-95. PMID: 29721094, PMCID: PMC5928904, PII: thnov08p2488, DOI: 10.7150/thno.24487, ISSN: 1838-7640.

Rosenthal EL, Moore LS, Tipirneni K, de Boer E, Stevens TM, Hartman YE, Carroll WR, Zinn KR, Warram JM. Sensitivity and Specificity of Cetuximab-IRDye800CW to Identify Regional Metastatic Disease in Head and Neck Cancer. Clin Cancer Res [print-electronic]. 2017 Aug 8/15/2017; 23(16): 4744-52. PMID: 28446503, PMCID: PMC5595145, PII: 1078-0432.CCR-16-2968, DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-16-2968, ISSN: 1557-3265.

Chen MM, Orosco RK, Harris JP, Porter JB, Rosenthal EL, Hara W, Divi V. Predictors of readmissions after head and neck cancer surgery: A national perspective. Oral Oncol. 2017 Aug; 71: 106-12. PMID: 28688676, PII: S1368-8375(17)30162-8, DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2017.06.010, ISSN: 1879-0593.

Harmsen S, Teraphongphom N, Tweedle MF, Basilion JP, Rosenthal EL. Optical Surgical Navigation for Precision in Tumor Resections. Mol Imaging Biol. 2017 Jun; 19(3): 357-62. PMID: 28271367, PMCID: PMC5567813, PII: 10.1007/s11307-017-1054-1, DOI: 10.1007/s11307-017-1054-1, ISSN: 1860-2002.

Tummers WS, Warram JM, Tipirneni KE, Fengler J, Jacobs P, Shankar L, Henderson L, Ballard B, Pfefer TJ, Pogue BW, Weichert JP, Bouvet M, Sorger J, Contag CH, Frangioni JV, Tweedle MF, Basilion JP, Gambhir SS, Rosenthal EL. Regulatory Aspects of Optical Methods and Exogenous Targets for Cancer Detection. Cancer Res [print-electronic]. 2017 May 5/1/2017; 77(9): 2197-206. PMID: 28428283, PMCID: PMC5567809, PII: 0008-5472.CAN-16-3217, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-3217, ISSN: 1538-7445.

Rosenthal EL, Chung TK, Parker WB, Allan PW, Clemons L, Lowman D, Hong J, Hunt FR, Richman J, Conry RM, Mannion K, Carroll WR, Nabell L, Sorscher EJ. Phase I dose-escalating trial of Escherichia coli purine nucleoside phosphorylase and fludarabine gene therapy for advanced solid tumors. Ann Oncol [print-electronic]. 2015 Jul; 26(7): 1481-7. PMID: 25899782, PMCID: PMC4560028, PII: S0923-7534(19)34512-0, DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdv196, ISSN: 1569-8041.