Joe S. Mendez
( out of 97 reviews )

Joe S. Mendez, MD

Languages spoken: English

Clinical Locations

Primary Location

Huntsman Cancer Institute - Cancer Hospital South

Clinic 2B, Neuro-Oncology
1950 Circle of Hope
Salt Lake City , UT 84112
801-585-0250
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Joe Mendez, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah and an Investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He specializes in Neuro-Oncology with a focus on treating patients with gliomas, primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), and metastatic disease to the central nervous system.

Dr. Mendez received his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Science from Rice University followed by his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his neurology residency at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital where he also served as Chief Resident. He most recently completed his fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Dr. Mendez’s research interests include clinical trial research focused on the treatment of gliomas and primary central nervous system lymphoma. His other interest is medical education with a focus on teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Mendez is originally from Wichita Falls, Texas. He enjoys playing tennis and traveling the world.

Specialties

Board Certification

United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (Neuro-oncology)
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

Patient Rating

4.9 /5
( out of 97 reviews )

The patient rating score is an average of all responses on our patient experience survey. The rating averages scores for all questions about care from our providers.

The scale on which responses are measured is 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score.

Patient Comments

Patient comments are gathered from our patient experience survey and displayed in their entirety. For the convenience of our visitors, some patient comments have been translated from their original language into English while preserving their original meaning as accurately as possible. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

Joe Mendez, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah and an Investigator at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He specializes in Neuro-Oncology with a focus on treating patients with gliomas, primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), and metastatic disease to the central nervous system.

Dr. Mendez received his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Science from Rice University followed by his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his neurology residency at Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital where he also served as Chief Resident. He most recently completed his fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Dr. Mendez’s research interests include clinical trial research focused on the treatment of gliomas and primary central nervous system lymphoma. His other interest is medical education with a focus on teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Mendez is originally from Wichita Falls, Texas. He enjoys playing tennis and traveling the world.

Board Certification and Academic Information

Academic Departments Neurosurgery -Associate Professor (Clinical)
Neurology -Adjunct Assistant Professor
Board Certification
United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (Neuro-oncology)
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

Education history

Undergraduate Environmental Engineering and Science - Rice University B.A.
Professional Medical Medicine - University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine M.D.
Internship Internal Medicine - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital Intern
Residency Neurology - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital Resident
Chief Resident Neurology - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Administrative Chief Resident
Fellowship Neuro-Oncology - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Fellow

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Parsons MW, Whipple NS, Poppe MM, Mendez JS, Cannon DM, Burt L (2021). The use and efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in children and adults with pilocytic astrocytoma. Journal of neuro-oncology, 151(2), 93-101.
  2. Sneed PK, Mendez J, Vemer-van den Hoek JG, Seymour ZA, Ma L, Molinaro AM, Fogh SE, Nakamura JL, McDermott M (2015). Adverse radiation effect after stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases: incidence, time course, and risk factors. Journal of neurosurgery, 123(2), 373-86.
  3. Mendez JS, Ostrom QT, Gittleman H, Kruchko C, DeAngelis LM, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Grommes (2018). The elderly left behind ¿ Changes in survival trends of primary central nervous system lymphoma over the past four decades. Neuro-oncology, 20(5), 687-694.
  4. Guney E, Lucas CG, Qi Z, Yu J, Zhang R, Ohgami RS, Rubenstein JL, Boué DR, Schafernak KT, Wertheim GB, Dahiya S, Giulino-Roth L, Attarbaschi A, Barth MJ, Kothari S, Abla O, Cohen AL, Mendez JS, Bollen AW, Perry A, Tihan T, Pekmezci M, Solomon DA, Wen K (2022). A genetically distinct pediatric subtype of primary CNS large B-cell lymphoma is associated with favorable clinical outcome. Blood advances, 6, 3189-3193.
  5. Lucas CG, Davidson CJ, Alashari M, Putnam AR, Whipple NS, Bruggers CS, Mendez JS, Cheshier SH, Walker JB, Ramani B, Cadwell CR, Sullivan DV, Lu R, Mirchia K, Van Ziffle J, Devine P, Goldschmidt E, Hervey-Jumper SL, Gupta N, Oberheim Bush NA, Raleigh DR, Bollen A, Tihan T, Pekmezci M, Solomon DA, Phillips JJ, Perry (2022). Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals Divergent Clonal Evolution in Components of Composite Pleomorphic Xanthoastrocytoma-Ganglioglioma. Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology, 81(8), 650-657.
  6. Gelhard S, Maxwell A, Colman H, Cohen AL, Mendez J (2022). Consolidation regimens in primary central nervous system lymphoma: a single-center retrospective cohort evaluating survival outcomes and cost-benefit analysis. Journal of neuro-oncology, 159(2), 293-300.
  7. Kraus RD, Weil CR, Su FCF, Cannon DM, Burt LM, Mendez J (2022). Incidence and extent of disease progression on MRI between surgery and initiation of radiotherapy in glioblastoma patients. Neuro-oncology practice, 9(5), 380-389.
  8. Mellinghoff IK, van den Bent MJ, Blumenthal DT, Touat M, Peters KB, Clarke J, Mendez J, Yust-Katz S, Welsh L, Mason WP, Ducray F, Umemura Y, Nabors B, Holdhoff M, Hottinger AF, Arakawa Y, Sepulveda JM, Wick W, Soffietti R, Perry JR, Giglio P, de la Fuente M, Maher EA, Schoenfeld S, Zhao D, Pandya SS, Steelman L, Hassan I, Wen PY, Cloughesy T (2023). Vorasidenib in IDH1- or IDH2-Mutant Low-Grade Glioma. The New England journal of medicine, 389(7), 589-601.
  9. Earl ER, Colman H, Mendez J, Jensen RL, Karsy (2023). An evaluation of biobanking and therapeutic clinical trial representation among adult glioma patients from rural and urban Utah. Neuro-oncology practice, 10(5), 472-481.
  10. Arnold L, Hoshina Y, Hyejung L, Haaland B, Colman H, Mendez J (2024). Effect of Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia Prophylaxis on Hematologic Toxicity in Patients Receiving Chemoradiation for Primary BrainTumors. Journal of neuro-oncology, 167(1), 211-217.
  11. Robinson LJ, Goold E, Cannon DM, Mendez JS, Menacho ST, Mao Q, Liu (2024). A rare case of an adult primary intracranial sarcoma associated with a DICER1 mutation. Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology, 83(5), 365-369.
  12. Mendez JS, Cohen AL, Eckenstein M, Jensen RL, Burt LM, Salzman KL, Chamberlain M, Hsu HH, Hutchinson M, Iwamoto F, Ligon KL, Mrugala MM, Pelayo M, Plotkin SR, Puduvalli VK, Raizer J, Reardon DA, Sterba M, Walbert T, West BL, Wong ET, Zhang C, Colman (2024). Phase 1b/2 Study of Orally Administered Pexidartinib in Combination with Radiation Therapy and Temozolomide in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma. Neuro-Oncology Advances, 6(1), vdae202.
  13. Bagley SJ, Umemura Y, Mendez JS, Arrillaga-Romany I, Bielamowicz KJ, Butowski N, Hutchins K, Kong XT, Odia Y, Sharma A, Weintraub L, Koschmann C, Wen PY, Saratsis AM, Brundage T, Ramage SC, Tarapore RS, Knowles T, Yang D, Allen JE, Cloughesy (2025). Prognostic Features of Recurrent Midline and H3 K27M-Mutant Glioma. Cancers, 17(13), 2107.
  14. Schaff LR, Piotrowski AF, Pentsova E, Gavrilovic IT, Lin A, Kaley TJ, Wongchai V, Emadi-Paramkouhi L, Madzsar J, Quinn L, Gonzalez A, Breakey L, Tang SS, Mendez JS, Malani R, Nolan C, Hatzoglou V, Young RJ, DeAngelis LM, Reiner AS, Panageas KS, Francis JH, Mellinghoff IK, Grommes (2025). Phase Ib study with expansion of ibrutinib, lenalidomide and rituximab in patients with relapsed/refractory CNS lymphoma. Neuro-oncology, 27(8), 2107¿2116.
  15. Cloughesy TF, van den Bent MJ, Touat M, Blumenthal DT, Peters KB, Ellingson BM, Clarke JL, Mendez JS, Yust-Katz S, Welsh L, Mason WP, Ducray F, Umemura Y, Nabors B, Holdhoff M, Hottinger AF, Arakawa Y, Sepulveda JM, Wick W, Soffietti R, Perry J, Giglio P, de la Fuente M, Maher E, Bottomley A, Tron AE, Yi D, Zhao D, Pandya SS, Steelman L, Hassan I, Wen PY, Mellinghoff IK (2025). Vorasidenib in IDH1-mutant or IDH2-mutant low-grade glioma (INDIGO): secondary and exploratory endpoints from a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. The Lancet. Oncology, 26(12), 1665-1675.
  16. Kaulen LD, Nayak L, Karschnia P, Kraai I, Galluzzo DR, de Groot FA, Witterholt M, Donovan L, Bhella S, Kuschel LP, Fox CP, Seidel S, Paterson J, Richter B, Dixit KS, Zeyen T, Alderuccio JP, Montoto S, Kuittinen O, Traub BL, Doubrovinskaia S, Rohdjess H, Mueller K, Enting R, de Bresser J, Kuitunen H, Iwamoto FM, Alencar AJ, Herrlinger U, Platten M, Cwynarski K, Mendez JS, Roth P, von Baumgarten L, Prica A, Bhagat G, Lurain K, Schiff D, Vermaat JS, Baehring J, Nijland M, Dietrich J, Batchelor TT, Wick (2026). Immunodeficiency-associated primary CNS lymphomas: An International Primary CNS Lymphoma Collaborative Group (IPCG) Study. Blood,

Review

  1. Azab MA, Cole K, Earl E, Cutler C, Mendez J, Karsy (2023). Medical Management of Meningiomas. Neurosurgery clinics of North America, 34(3), 319-333.
  2. Kropp S, Mendez J (2024). Advancements in Targeted Molecular Therapy for Low-Grade Gliomas: Challenging the Treatment Paradigm. Practical Neurology, 23(3), 56-59.
  3. Warstadt MB, Richards TJ, Shah LM, Kohler ME, Mendez JS, Malani R, Salzman K (2025). Glioneuronal and Neuronal Tumors in Adults: WHO 2021 Imaging and Molecular Updates. AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology,

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