Research Summary

My clinical interests focus most heavily on surgical neuropathology, especially in terms of its application towards neuro-oncology. As a diagnostic neuropathologist with a focus on CNS tumors, I am primarily involved in translational research with the primary goal of developing new diagnostic and prognostic markers, which can be utilized in the clinical management of brain tumor patients. In order to achieve this goal, my studies apply immunohistochemical, molecular cytogenetic, and genomic screening techniques primarily towards the study of gliomas, meningiomas, and primitive pediatric malignancies. I have been particularly interested in improved classification and grading schemes as well as the identification of molecular genetic markers associated with tumorigenesis, malignant progression, and/or biologic behavior. I collaborate with a number of clinical and scientific researchers both within and outside UCSF and it is our hope that the markers we identify will improve patient management and lead to the development of novel therapeutic approaches. I also maintain a private consultation service for difficult surgical neuropathology cases obtained from the U.S. and abroad, particularly brain tumors.

Research Funding

  • September 20, 2002 - August 31, 2023 - Brain Tumor SPORE Grant , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P50CA097257

Education

The University of Texas at Austin, TX, B.S., 1986, Zoology
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, M.D., 1990, M.D.
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, Postdoctoral, 1994, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, Postdoctoral, 1998, Surgical Pathology, Neuropathology, and Research Fellowships

Honors & Awards

  • 1993
    First Place Resident Award (poster): Texas Society of Pathologists meeting
  • 1994
    First Place Resident Award (podium): Texas Society of Pathologists meeting
  • 1994
    Matthew T. Moore Award, International Congress of Neuropathology meeting
  • 1995
    Mary Tom Award, Canadian Association of Neuropathologists meeting
  • 1995-1997
    Fellowship Research Award, American Brain Tumor Association
  • 1999
    Distinguished Service Teaching Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2001)
  • 2002
    Lucien J. Rubenstein Award, American Association of Neuropathologists meeting
  • 2002
    Distinguished Service Teaching Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2004)
  • 2004
    Distinguished Service Teaching Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2006)
  • 2005
    Professor of the Year Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2007)
  • 2006-now
    America’s Top Doctors and America's Top Doctors for Cancer (Castle Connolly)
  • 2007
    Distinguished Service Teaching Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2009)
  • 2008
    Professor of the Year Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2010)
  • 2009-now
    Best Doctors in America, U.S. News and World Reports
  • 2009
    Distinguished Service Teaching Award, WUSM (Medical School Class of 2011)
  • 2013
    Nominated for MS1 Essential Core Teaching Award, UCSF (MS Class of 2016)

Selected Publications

  1. Saijo A, Ogino H, Butowski NA, Tedesco MR, Gibson D, Watchmaker PB, Okada K, Wang AS, Shai A, Salazar AM, Molinaro AM, Rabbitt JE, Shahin M, Perry A, Clarke JL, Taylor JW, Daras M, Oberheim Bush NA, Hervey-Jumper SL, Phillips JJ, Chang SM, Hilf N, Mayer-Mokler A, Keler T, Berger MS, Okada H. A combinatory vaccine with IMA950 plus varlilumab promotes effector memory T-cell differentiation in the peripheral blood of patients with low-grade gliomas. Neuro Oncol. 2024 02 02; 26(2):335-347.  View on PubMed
  2. Rasband JM, Alfattal R, Patel AJ, Fuller GN, Perry A, Lu HC. Cavernous sinus hemangioma: Histopathological spectrum of 8 cases. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2023 09 20; 82(10):884-886.  View on PubMed
  3. Raleigh D, Mirchia K, Choudhury A, Joseph T, Birrueta J, Phillips J, Bhaduri A, Crouch E, Perry A. Meningeal solitary fibrous tumor cell states phenocopy cerebral vascular development and homeostasis. Res Sq. 2023 Jul 26.  View on PubMed
  4. Williams EA, Ravindranathan A, Gupta R, Stevers NO, Suwala AK, Hong C, Kim S, Yuan JB, Wu J, Barreto J, Lucas CG, Chan E, Pekmezci M, LeBoit PE, Mully T, Perry A, Bollen A, Van Ziffle J, Devine WP, Reddy AT, Gupta N, Basnet KM, Macaulay RJB, Malafronte P, Lee H, Yong WH, Williams KJ, Juratli TA, Mata DA, Huang RSP, Hiemenz MC, Pavlick DC, Frampton GM, Janovitz T, Ross JS, Chang SM, Berger MS, Jacques L, Song JS, Costello JF, Solomon DA. Novel SOX10 indel mutations drive schwannomas through impaired transactivation of myelination gene programs. Neuro Oncol. 2023 12 08; 25(12):2221-2236.  View on PubMed
  5. Guney E, Lucas CG, Singh K, Pekmezci M, Fernandez-Pol S, Mirchia K, Toland A, Vogel H, Bannykh S, Schafernak KT, Alexandrescu S, Mobley BC, Powell S, Davidson CJ, Neltner J, Boué DR, Hattab E, Ferris SP, Ohgami RS, Rubenstein JL, Bollen AW, Tihan T, Perry A, Solomon DA, Wen KW. Molecular profiling identifies at least 3 distinct types of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder involving the CNS. Blood Adv. 2023 07 11; 7(13):3307-3311.  View on PubMed
  6. Asa SL, Mete O, Riddle ND, Perry A. Multilineage Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors (PitNETs) Expressing PIT1 and SF1. Endocr Pathol. 2023 Sep; 34(3):273-278.  View on PubMed
  7. Keck MK, Sill M, Wittmann A, Joshi P, Stichel D, Beck P, Okonechnikow K, Sievers P, Wefers AK, Roncaroli F, Avula S, McCabe MG, Hayden JT, Wesseling P, Øra I, Nistér M, Kranendonk MEG, Tops BBJ, Zapotocky M, Zamecnik J, Vasiljevic A, Fenouil T, Meyronet D, von Hoff K, Schüller U, Loiseau H, Figarella-Branger D, Kramm CM, Sturm D, Scheie D, Rauramaa T, Pesola J, Gojo J, Haberler C, Brandner S, Jacques T, Sexton Oates A, Saffery R, Koscielniak E, Baker SJ, Yip S, Snuderl M, Ud Din N, Samuel D, Schramm K, Blattner-Johnson M, Selt F, Ecker J, Milde T, von Deimling A, Korshunov A, Perry A, Pfister SM, Sahm F, Solomon DA, Jones DTW. Correction to: Amplification of the PLAG-family genes-PLAGL1 and PLAGL2-is a key feature of the novel tumor type CNS embryonal tumor with PLAGL amplification. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 Apr; 145(4):511-514.  View on PubMed
  8. Choudhury A, Chen WC, Lucas CG, Bayley JC, Harmanci AS, Maas SLN, Santagata S, Klisch T, Perry A, Bi WL, Sahm F, Patel AJ, Magill ST, Raleigh DR. Hypermitotic meningiomas harbor DNA methylation subgroups with distinct biological and clinical features. Neuro Oncol. 2023 03 14; 25(3):520-530.  View on PubMed
  9. Terry M, Reis G, Horvai A, Pekmezci M, Perry A. Sarcomatous Transformation of a Medically Treated Lactotroph Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumor? Endocr Pathol. 2023 03; 34(1):161-163.  View on PubMed
  10. Tang V, Lu R, Mirchia K, Van Ziffle J, Devine P, Lee J, Phillips JJ, Perry A, Raleigh DR, Lucas CG, Solomon DA. Loss of p16 expression is a sensitive marker of CDKN2A homozygous deletion in malignant meningiomas. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 04; 145(4):497-500.  View on PubMed
  11. Rogers CL, Pugh SL, Vogelbaum MA, Perry A, Ashby LS, Modi JM, Alleman AM, Barani IJ, Braunstein S, Bovi JA, de Groot JF, Whitton AC, Lindhorst SM, Deb N, Shrieve DC, Shu HK, Bloom B, Machtay M, Mishra MV, Robinson CG, Won M, Mehta MP. Low-risk meningioma: Initial outcomes from NRG Oncology/RTOG 0539. Neuro Oncol. 2023 01 05; 25(1):137-145.  View on PubMed
  12. Asa SL, Mete O, Schüller U, Ramani B, Mirchia K, Perry A. Cauda Equina Neuroendocrine Tumors: Distinct Epithelial Neuroendocrine Neoplasms of Spinal Origin. Am J Surg Pathol. 2023 04 01; 47(4):469-475.  View on PubMed
  13. Keck MK, Sill M, Wittmann A, Joshi P, Stichel D, Beck P, Okonechnikow K, Sievers P, Wefers AK, Roncaroli F, Avula S, McCabe MG, Hayden JT, Wesseling P, Øra I, Nistér M, Kranendonk MEG, Tops BBJ, Zapotocky M, Zamecnik J, Vasiljevic A, Fenouil T, Meyronet D, von Hoff K, Schüller U, Loiseau H, Figarella-Branger D, Kramm CM, Sturm D, Scheie D, Rauramaa T, Pesola J, Gojo J, Haberler C, Brandner S, Jacques T, Sexton Oates A, Saffery R, Koscielniak E, Baker SJ, Yip S, Snuderl M, Ud Din N, Samuel D, Schramm K, Blattner-Johnson M, Selt F, Ecker J, Milde T, von Deimling A, Korshunov A, Perry A, Pfister SM, Sahm F, Solomon DA, Jones DTW. Amplification of the PLAG-family genes-PLAGL1 and PLAGL2-is a key feature of the novel tumor type CNS embryonal tumor with PLAGL amplification. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 01; 145(1):49-69.  View on PubMed
  14. Wu Z, Rajan S, Chung HJ, Raffeld M, Panneer Selvam P, Schweizer L, Perry A, Samuel D, Giannini C, Ragunathan A, Frosch MP, Marshall MS, Boué DR, Donev K, Neill SG, Fernandes I, Resnick A, Rood B, Cummings TJ, Buckley AF, Szymanski L, Neto OLA, Zach L, Colman H, Cheshier S, Ziskin J, Tyagi M, Capper D, Abdullaev Z, Cimino PJ, Quezado M, Pratt D, Aldape K. Molecular and clinicopathologic characteristics of gliomas with EP300::BCOR fusions. Acta Neuropathol. 2022 12; 144(6):1175-1178.  View on PubMed
  15. Zhang Y, Lucas CG, Young JS, Morshed RA, McCoy L, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Daras M, Butowski NA, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Cha S, Wrensch M, Wiencke JK, Lee JC, Pekmezci M, Phillips JJ, Perry A, Bollen AW, Aghi MK, Theodosopoulos P, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper SL, Berger MS, Clarke JL, Chang SM, Molinaro AM, Solomon DA. Prospective genomically guided identification of "early/evolving" and "undersampled" IDH-wildtype glioblastoma leads to improved clinical outcomes. Neuro Oncol. 2022 10 03; 24(10):1749-1762.  View on PubMed
  16. Lucas CG, Sloan EA, Gupta R, Wu J, Pratt D, Vasudevan HN, Ravindranathan A, Barreto J, Williams EA, Shai A, Whipple NS, Bruggers CS, Maher O, Nabors B, Rodriguez M, Samuel D, Brown M, Carmichael J, Lu R, Mirchia K, Sullivan DV, Pekmezci M, Tihan T, Bollen AW, Perry A, Banerjee A, Mueller S, Gupta N, Hervey-Jumper SL, Oberheim Bush NA, Daras M, Taylor JW, Butowski NA, de Groot J, Clarke JL, Raleigh DR, Costello JF, Phillips JJ, Reddy AT, Chang SM, Berger MS, Solomon DA. Multiplatform molecular analyses refine classification of gliomas arising in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. Acta Neuropathol. 2022 10; 144(4):747-765.  View on PubMed
  17. 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 A. Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals Divergent Clonal Evolution in Components of Composite Pleomorphic Xanthoastrocytoma-Ganglioglioma. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2022 07 19; 81(8):650-657.  View on PubMed
  18. Kumar A, Mohamed E, Tong S, Chen K, Mukherjee J, Lim Y, Wong CM, Boosalis Z, Shai A, Pieper RO, Gupta N, Perry A, Bollen AW, Molinaro AM, Solomon DA, Shieh JTC, Phillips JJ. CXCL14 Promotes a Robust Brain Tumor-Associated Immune Response in Glioma. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 07 01; 28(13):2898-2910.  View on PubMed
  19. Vasudevan HN, Choudhury A, Hilz S, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Chen WC, Lucas CG, Braunstein SE, Oberheim Bush NA, Butowski N, Pekmezci M, McDermott MW, Perry A, Solomon DA, Magill ST, Raleigh DR. Intratumor and informatic heterogeneity influence meningioma molecular classification. Acta Neuropathol. 2022 09; 144(3):579-583.  View on PubMed
  20. Lu R, Pu C, Pekmeczi M, Perry A. Immature PIT1-Lineage Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumor: a 17-Year-Old Male with Pathogenic AIP Mutation. Endocr Pathol. 2022 09; 33(3):414-416.  View on PubMed

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