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Pathology

Houston, Texas

Department of Pathology
Pathology
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Faculty

Thomas M. Wheeler, M.D. Professor and Chair

Thomas M. Wheeler

Education

  1. M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1977 (High Honors)

Residency

  1. Resident, Baylor College of Medicine, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, 1977-1981

  2. Chief Resident, Baylor College of Medicine, 1980-1981

Specialty

  1. Anatomic and Clinical Pathology

  2. Cytopathology

  3. Genitourinary Pathology

  4. Pathology of Asbestos Associated Diseases

Board Certification

  1. American Board of Pathology, Anatomic and Clinical, 1981, recertified 1999

  2. American Board of Pathology, Cytopathology, 1990

Current Position

  • Chairman, Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 2004-present

Professional Positions Held

  • Harlan J. Spjut, M.D. Professor of Pathology, 2001-present

  • Associate Chairman, Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 1995-present

  • Professor of Pathology & Urology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 1995-present

Honors and Awards

  • College:

  • Alpha Chi Honor Society

  • American Institute of Chemists Award (outstanding senior student in Chemistry)

  • Outstanding alumnus, Houston Baptist University, 1997

  • Medical School:

  • Alpha Omega Alpha, 1976--present

  • Stuart A. Wallace Award (outstanding student in Pathology), 1976

  • Award for excellence in Physiology, 1975

  • Faculty:

  • Voted by peers to be included in listing of The Best Doctors in America, 1998-present

  • Herbert Lansky Award, College of American Pathologists, 1999

  • Life Member of the National Registry of Who's Who, 2001

  • Voted by peers to be included in listing of America's Top Doctors, 2001-present

  • George T. Caldwell, MD Distinguished Service Award, Texas Society of Pathologists, 2007

Membership on professional organizations

  • Alpha Omega Alpha

  • American Board of Pathology, Anatomic Pathology Test Committee, 1995-99

  • American Association for Cancer Research

  • American Foundation for Thyroid Patients, Medical Advisory Board, 1998-1999

  • American Medical Association

  • American Society for Clinical Pathology

  • American Society of Cytopathology

  • American Society of Investigative Pathology

  • American Thyroid Association

  • American Urological Association

  • Association of Pathology Chairs

  • College of American Pathologists:
    State Advisory Committee, 1994-97
    Chairman, 1999-2000
    Delegate to House of Delegates, 1993-2003
    Government Affairs Committee, 1996-2003
    Council on Government and Professional Affairs, 1999-2003
    Nominating Committee 2000
    Chair, 2001, 2005-2006
    Education Committee 2004-present
    Council on Scientific Affairs, 2004-present, chair 2005-2009
    Board of Governors, 2003-2006
    Executive Committee, 2005-present
    Chair, Ad Hoc Work Group for Pathology Report Standardization, 2006-2008

  • Harris County Medical Society

  • Houston Society of Clinical Pathologists:
    President, 1992
    Scientific Seminar Chair 1988, 2001

  • International Society of Urological Pathology

  • Texas Society of Cytology, President, 1988

  • Texas Society of Pathologists:
    Alternate Delegate, 1993-1995
    Delegate 1995-present
    Secretary 1997
    President-Elect 1998
    President 1999
    Chair Nominating Committee 2000

  • The Thyroid Society for Education and Research, Board of Directors, 1993-98

  • U.S. and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Abstract Review Board, 1997-2000, 2006-2009

  • Editorial Board:

  • Human Pathology, 1996-present

  • Prostate, 1999-present

  • Clinical Thyroidology

  • American Journal of Surgical Pathology, 2000-present

  • American Journal of Translational Research, 2008-present

  • Executive Advisory Board:

  • Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 2005-present

  • Ad hoc Reviewer:

  • Cancer

  • Journal of Urology

  • Modern Pathology

  • British Journal of Urology

  • Urology

  • Cancer Research

  • Journal of Clinical Oncology

  • Clinical Cancer Research

  • American Journal of Pathology

  • New England Journal of Medicine

Representative Publications

  1. Weiss G, Cottrell S, Distler J, Schatz P, Kirstiansen G, Ittmann MI, Haefliger C, Lesche R, Hartmann A, Corman J, Wheeler TM . DNA methylation of the PITX2 gene promoter region is a strong independent prognostic marker for biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer patients after radical prostatectomy. J Urol 2008 . In press.

  2. Evans AJ, Henry PC, Van der Kwast TH, Tkachuk DC, Watson K, Lockwood GA, Fleshner NE, Cheung C, Belanger EC, Amin MB, Boccon-Gibod L, Bostwick DG, Egevad L, Epstein JI, Grignon DJ, Jones EC, Montironi R, Moussa M, Sweet JM, Trpkov K, Wheeler TM , Srigley JR. Interobserver variability between expert urologic pathologists for extraprostatic extension and surgical margin status in radical prostatectomy specimens. Am J Surg Pathol . 2008 Oct; 32 ( 10 ): 1503-12 .

  3. Latour M, Amin MB, Billis A, Egevad L, Grignon DJ, Humphrey PA, Reuter VE, Sakr WA, Srigley JR, Wheeler TM , Yang XJ, Epstein JI. Grading of invasive cribriform carcinoma on prostate needle biopsy: an interobserver study among experts in genitourinary pathology. Am J Surg Pathol . 2008 Oct; 32 ( 10 ): 1532-9 .

  4. Goldsmith JD, Siegal GP, Suster S, Wheeler TM , Brown RW. Reporting guidelines for clinical laboratory reports in surgical pathology. Arch Pathol Lab Med . 2008 Oct; 132 ( 10 ): 1608-16 .

  5. Iczkowski KA, Hossain D, Torkko KC, Qian J, Lucia MS, Wheeler TM , Rewcastle JC, Bostwick DG. Preoperative Prediction of Unifocal, Unilateral, Margin-Negative, and Small Volume Prostate Cancer. Urology . 2008 Jun; 71 ( 6 ): 1166-71.

  6. Hammerich KH, Hille S, Ayala GE, Wheeler TM , Engers R, Ackermann R, Mueller-Mattheis V. Malignant advanced granulosa cell tumor of the adult testis: case report and review of the literature. Hum Pathol . 2008 May; 39 ( 5 ): 701-9 .

  7. Swindle P, Eastham JA, Ohori M, Kattan MW, Wheeler T , Maru N, Slawin K, Scardino PT. Do margins matter? The prognostic significance of positive surgical margins in radical prostatectomy specimens. J Urol . 2008 May; 179 ( 5 Suppl ): S47-51.

  8. Eggener SE, Scardino PT, Carroll PR, Zelefsky MJ, Sartor O, Hricak H, Wheeler TM , Fine SW, Trachtenberg J, Rubin MA, Ohori M, Kuroiwa K, Rossignol M, Abenhaim L; International Task Force on Prostate Cancer and the Focal Lesion Paradigm. Focal Therapy for Localized Prostate Cancer: A Critical Appraisal of Rationale and Modalities. J Urol . 2007 Dec; 178 ( 6 ): 2260-7

  9. Kiniwa Y, Miyahara Y, Wang HY, Peng W, Peng G, Wheeler TM , Thompson TC, Old LJ, Wang RF. CD8+ Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells Mediate Immunosuppression in Prostate Cancer. Clin Cancer Res . 2007 Dec 1; 13 ( 23 ): 6947-58 .

  10. Eastham JA, Kuroiwa K, Ohori M, Serio AM, Gorbonos A, Maru N, Vickers AJ, Slawin KM, Wheeler TM , Reuter VE, Scardino PT. Prognostic significance of location of positive margins in radical prostatectomy specimens. Urology . 2007 Nov; 70 ( 5 ): 965-9 .

  11. Yanagisawa N, Li R, Rowley D, Hao L, Kadmon D, Miles BJ, Wheeler TM , Ayala GE. Stromogenic prostatic carcinoma pattern (carcinomas with reactive stromal grade 3) in needle biopsies predicts biochemical recurrence-free survival in patients after radical prostatectomy. Hum Pathol . 2007 Nov;38(11):1611-20.

  12. Yang G, Addai J, Wheeler TM , Frolov A, Miles BJ, Kadmon D, Thompson TC. Correlative evidence that prostate cancer cell-derived caveolin-1 mediates angiogenesis. Hum Pathol . 2007 Nov;38(11):1688-95.

  13. Li R, Erdamar S, Dai H, Wheeler TM , Frolov A, Scardino PT, Thompson TC, Ayala GE. Forkhead protein FKHR and its phosphorylated form p-FKHR in human prostate cancer. Hum Pathol. 2007 Oct;38(10):1501-7.

  14. Ishii J, Ohori M, Scardino P, Tsuboi T, Slawin K, Wheeler T . Significance of the craniocaudal distribution of cancer in radical prostatectomy specimens. Int J Urol . 2007 Sep;14(9):817-21.

  15. Cordon-Cardo C, Kotsianti A, Verbel DA, Teverovskiy M, Capodieci P, Hamann S, Jeffers Y, Clayton M, Elkhettabi F, Khan FM, Sapir M, Bayer-Zubek V, Vengrenyuk Y, Fogarsi S, Saidi O, Reuter VE, Scher HI, Kattan MW, Bianco FJ, Wheeler TM , Ayala GE, Scardino PT, Donovan MJ. Improved prediction of prostate cancer recurrence through systems pathology. J Clin Invest . 2007 Jul;117(7):1876-83.