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Pathology

Houston, Texas

Department of Pathology
Pathology
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Faculty

Debra L. Kearney, M.D. Associate Professor of Pathology

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Education

  • M.D., Northwestern Medical School, 1976 – 1980

  • B.A. Northwestern University, 1972 – 1976

Residency

  • Certificate in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1980 – 1984

Specialty

  • Pediatric Pathology

Board Certification

  • Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, 1984

  • Pediatric Pathology, 1999

Area of Interest

  • Pediatric Cardiovascular Pathology with emphasis on congenital heart disease

  • transplant pathology

  • cardiomyopathies

  • HIV associated heart disease

Current Position

  • Associate Professor of Pathology

  • Director of Autopsy Service, Texas Children's Hospital

Professional Positions Held

  • Councilor, Executive Council, Society for Cardiovascular Pathology, 1999-2001

Other Positions

  • Texas Children's Hospital representative to Houston/Harris County Child Fatality Review Team

  • Editorial Board; Cardiovascular Pathology Section editor, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

  • Membership committee, Society for Pediatric Pathology

  • Councillor elect, Executive Council, Society for Cardiovascular Pathology

  • Cardiac Pathology Consultant. Harris County Medical Examiners Office

Honors and Awards

  • Alpha Omega Alpha

  • Outstanding Young Women of America, 1984

  • Poster selected for special recognition/Rett syndrome award: Kearney, DL, Armstrong, DL, Glaze, DG, The conduction system in Rett syndrome. Presented at the annual meeting of the International Rett Syndrome Association, Gothenburg Sweden, August 1996

  • Outstanding Teaching Award, Pediatric Cardiology 2000

  • Listed among Best Doctors in America 2001-2002

  • Listed among 100 Best Women Doctors in Houston (Inside Houston Magazine 2002)

  • Listed among Best Doctors in America 2003-2004

  • Listed among Best Doctors in America 2005-2006

Membership on professional organizations

  • Society for Cardiovascular Pathology

  • Society for Pediatric Pathology

  • American Medical Association

  • Houston Society of Clinical Pathologists

  • Texas Medical Association

  • Harris County Medical Society

  • United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology

Representative Publications

  1. Yang Z, Bowles NE, Scherer SE, Taylor MD, Kearney DL, Ge S, Nadvoretskiy VV, DeFreitas G, Carabello B, Brandon LI, Godsel LM, Green KJ, Saffitz J, Li H, Danieli GA, Calkins H, Marcus F, Towbin JA. Desmosomal dysfunction due to mutations in desmoplakin causes arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy. Circulation Research, 2006;99: 646-655
  2. Kim JJ, Kearney DL, Grifka RG, McKenzie ED, Mott AR. Pulmonary Venous Stenosis as an Associated Manifestation of Left-sided Obstructive Lesions in an Infant with Partial Atrioventricular Canal Defect. Pediatr Cardiol 2004 May 12: [Epublication]
  3. Perez-Atayde, AR, Kearney DL, Bricker JT, Colan SD, Easley KA, Kaplan S, Lai WW, Lipshultz SE, Moodie DS, Sopko G, Starc TC and for the P2C2 HIV Study Group. Cardiac, aortic, and pulmonary arteriopathy in HIV-infected children: The prospective P2C2 HIV multicenter study. Pediatr Devl Pathol 2004 Jan-Feb; 7(1):61-70
  4. Bowles NE, Ni J, Kearney DL, Pauschinger M, Schultheiss HP, McCarthy R, Hare J, Bricker JT, Bowles KR, Towbin JA. Detection of viruses in myocardial tissues by polymerase chain reaction. Evidence of adenovirus as a common cause of myocarditis in children and adults. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2003 Aug 6;42(3):466-72