Practice Contact Information
University of Kansas Medical Center
MS3040
Kansas City
KS
66160
United States
Phone: 9135886664
Email: [email protected]
Web Site: https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/otolaryngology/about-the-department/faculty-and-staff/faculty/sufi-thomas.html
Areas of Interest in Head and Neck Surgery
Head and Neck Research
Biography/Statement
Sufi Mary Thomas, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Cancer Biology, and Anatomy and Cell Biology. In addition, she is a co-Leader in the Cancer Biology Program at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. Dr. Thomas completed her PhD at the University of Mumbai in India and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Thomas specializes in head and neck cancer translational research. Her lab is currently delineating the mechanisms whereby non-malignant cells in the tumor microenvironment facilitate head and neck cancer progression and response to therapy. In addition, she is delineating mechanisms regulation late-effects of radiation, including radiation-induced fibrosis. She has published extensively, and helped develop several therapeutic approaches that have been tested in clinical trials. Her work is funded through the National Cancer Institute.
Clinical Trials
Bibliography
- New J, Arnold L, Ananth M, Alvi S, Thornton M, Werner L, Tawfik O, Dai H, Shnayder Y, Kakarala K, Tsue TT, Girod DA, Ding WX, Anant SA, Thomas SM. Secretory autophagy in cancer-associated fibroblasts promotes head and neck cancer progression and offers a novel therapeutic target. Cancer Res, 2017; 77 (23): 6679-6691 PMID: 28972076, PMCID: PMC5712244.
- Kumar D, New J, Vishwakarma V, Joshi R, Enders J, Lin F, Dasari S, Gutierrez W, Leef G, Ponnurangam S, Chavan H, Ganaden L, Thornton M, Dai H, Tawfik O, Straub J, Shnayder Y, Kakarala K, Tsue T, Girod D, Houten B, Shrikant A, Krishnamurthy P and Thomas SM. Cancer-associated fibroblasts drive glycolysis in a targetable signaling loop implicated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma progression. Cancer Research, 2018. Cancer Res, 2018:78(14): 3769-3782. PMID: 29769197 PMCID: PMC6050074.
- Kumar D, Yalamanchali S, New J, Parsel S, New N, Holcomb A, Gunewardena S, Tawfik O, Lominska C, Kimler BF, Anant S, Kakarala K, Tsue T, Shnayder Y, Sykes K, Padhye S, Thomas SM. Development and Characterization of an In Vitro Model for Radiation-Induced Fibrosis. Radiation Res. 2018, 189(3):326-336 PMID 29351058, PMCID: 29351058.
- Sok JC, Lee JA, Dasari S, Joyce S, Contrucci SC, Egloff AM, Trevelline BK, Joshi R, Kumari N, Grandis JR, Thomas SM. Collagen type XI α1 facilitates head and neck squamous cell cancer growth and invasion. Br J Cancer. 2013 Dec 10;109(12):3049-56. PMC3859935
- Wheeler SE, Shi H, Lin F, Dasari S, Bednash J, Thorne S, Watkins S, Joshi R, Thomas SM. Tumor associated fibroblasts enhance head and neck squamous cell carcinoma proliferation, invasion and metastasis in preclinical models. Head & Neck, 2013, 35. PMCID: PMC4111913.