Research Summary

Dr. Alexander "Sandy" Borowsky is a board certified surgical and molecular pathologist with expertise in breast pathology, molecular diagnostics, imaging technologies, and experimental model systems pathology.

Education

  • Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, MD, 1994, Medicine
  • Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Resident, 1996, Pathology
  • Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Fellow, 1997, Surgical and Breast Pathology
  • Harvard University School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2001, Molecular Oncology

Honors & Awards

  • 2023
    Cancer Warrior Award, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • 2020
    Josie King "Hero" Award, University of California, Davis, Health System
  • 2020
    Community Service Award, Thriving Pink
  • 2016
    Movember Challenge Award, Prostate Cancer Research Foundation
  • 2015
    Dean's Team Award for Excellence in Research, UC Davis School of Medicine
  • 2009
    Mid-Career Leadership Program, University of California, Davis
  • 2007
    Mid-Career Award in Mouse Pathobiology , NIH/NCRR
  • 2005
    Breast Cancer Research Program Award, State of California
  • 2002
    California Cancer Research Coordinating Committee Award, University of California
  • 2002
    UC Davis Health Science Research Award, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

Selected Publications

  1. Esserman LJ, Fiscalini AS, Naeim A, Van't Veer LJ, Kaster A, Scheuner MT, LaCroix AZ, Borowsky AD, Anton-Culver H, Olopade OI, Esserman J, Lancaster R, Madlensky L, Blanco AM, Ross KS, Goodman DL, Tong BS, Hogarth M, Heditsian D, Brain S, Lee V, Blum K, Kim MO, Sabacan LP, Fergus KB, Yau C, Park HL, Parker BA, Kaplan C, Rhoads KF, Eder S, Adduci K, Matthews JB, Wenger NS, Shieh Y, Hiatt RA, Ziv E, Tice JA, Eklund M. Risk-Based vs Annual Breast Cancer Screening: The WISDOM Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025 Dec 12. View on PubMed.
  2. Borowsky AD, Miller DV, Bauer TW, Feddersen RM, Gui D, Hall BJ, Albro JE, Lloyd IE, Bishop JW, Darrow MA, Spigel JH, Martin DR, Reynolds SJ, McConnell TG, Glassy EF, Zuckerman J, Kallichanda NS, Zhou X, Lewis JV, Dayal S, Chiweshe J, Sutcu AE, White M. A Multicenter Study to Evaluate Diagnostic Accuracy by Pathologists Using the Aperio GT 450 DX in Local and Remote Viewing Stations. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2025 Sep 1;149(9):859-867. View on PubMed.
  3. Ginzel JD, Chapman H, Sills JE, Allen EJ, Barak LS, Cardiff RD, Borowsky AD, Lyerly HK, Rogers BW, Snyder JC. Nonlinear progression during the occult transition establishes cancer lethality. Dis Model Mech. 2025 Mar 1;18(3). View on PubMed.
  4. Moon H, Mori H, Chen J, Patino A, Penzvalto Z, Ramamurthy K, Choi J, McPherson JD, Snyder JC, Cardiff RD, Borowsky AD. Adaptive selection of p53 mutation metaplastic phenotypes in estrogen-independent progression of ER+ tumors: A mechanism for acquired resistance to hormonal therapy. bioRxiv. 2025 Feb 6. View on PubMed.
  5. Yang Y, Zhang X, Cai D, Zheng X, Zhao X, Zou JX, Zhang J, Borowsky AD, Dall'Era MA, Corey E, Mitsiades N, Kung HJ, Chen X, Li JJ, Downes M, Evans RM, Chen HW. Functional inversion of circadian regulator REV-ERBα leads to tumorigenic gene reprogramming. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Oct 15;121(42):e2411321121. View on PubMed.
  6. Hossain MM, King P, Hackett J, Gerard HC, Niwinski R, Wu L, Van Kaer L, Dyson G, Gibson H, Borowsky AD, Sebzda E. Peripheral-derived regulatory T cells contribute to tumor-mediated immune suppression in a nonredundant manner. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Sep 3;121(36):e2404916121. View on PubMed.
  7. Wang H, Wang Q, Cai G, Duan Z, Nugent Z, Huang J, Zheng J, Borowsky AD, Li JJ, Liu P, Kung HJ, Murphy L, Chen HW, Wang J. Nuclear TIGAR mediates an epigenetic and metabolic autoregulatory loop via NRF2 in cancer therapeutic resistance. Acta Pharm Sin B. 2022 Apr;12(4):1871-1884. View on PubMed.
  8. Vinall R, Chen Q, Talbott G, Ramsamooj R, Dang A, Tepper CG, Borowsky A. Use of RNA-Seq and a Transgenic Mouse Model to Identify Genes Which May Contribute to Mutant p53-Driven Prostate Cancer Initiation. Biology (Basel). 2022 Jan 29;11(2). View on PubMed.
  9. Cai D, Wang J, Gao B, Li J, Wu F, Zou JX, Xu J, Jiang Y, Zou H, Huang Z, Borowsky AD, Bold RJ, Lara PN, Li JJ, Chen X, Lam KS, To KF, Kung HJ, Fiehn O, Zhao R, Evans RM, Chen HW. RORγ is a targetable master regulator of cholesterol biosynthesis in a cancer subtype. Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 11;10(1):4621. View on PubMed.
  10. Pénzváltó Z, Chen JQ, Tepper CG, Davis RR, Silvestrini MT, Umeh-Garcia M, Sweeney C, Borowsky AD. A Syngeneic ErbB2 Mammary Cancer Model for Preclinical Immunotherapy Trials. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2019 Jun;24(2):149- 162. View on PubMed.

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