Peter E. Fecci, MD, PhD, Named Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery

Peter E. Fecci, MD, PhD, professor of neurosurgery at Duke University School of Medicine and director of the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis, has been named chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine effective July 1, 2025. 

Fecci is a highly accomplished surgeon, investigator, and scholar who brings an impressive body of work to CU. He joined the Duke faculty in 2014, after completing internships, residency training, and postdoctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Fecci graduated from Cornell University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology and behavior and earned his MD and PhD degrees at Duke University in 2007.

“I am truly excited that Dr. Fecci will be joining the University of Colorado,” says Dean John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA. “I am confident that he will make valuable contributions, building programs of excellence in clinical care, research, and education for the school and for our hospital partners.”

As a researcher, Fecci focuses on brain tumor immunology and immunotherapy, often highlighting T cell dysfunction in glioblastoma and other intracranial cancers. His work encompasses clinical trial design for primary and metastatic brain tumors, novel immunotherapeutic targets and modalities, laser-induced interstitial thermal therapy, and translatable nanotechnologies. Fecci is the principal investigator on multiple extramural grants, the author of more than 130 articles in refereed high-impact journals, including Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, Nature Cancer, Nature Reviews Cancer, Nature Biotechnology, Science, and Immunity, and a frequently invited speaker at national and international symposia.

In his clinical practice, Fecci focuses on primary and metastatic brain tumors. He founded the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis in 2017. He is also director of the Duke Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, director of surgical neuro-oncology, vice chair for academic neurosurgery, and deputy director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. He holds several patents related to his work.

At the CU Department of Neurosurgery, Fecci succeeds Kevin Lillehei, MD.

“I would like to thank Dr. Lillehei for his dedicated service to our campus and for extending his time as chair while we completed the search for his successor,” says Sampson. “I would also like to thank all members of the search committee and Naresh Mandava, MD, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, who chaired the search committee, for their service and expertise in conducting the search.”