Karen S Gustafson, MD, PhD

Pathology
Staff Pathologist

Meet other members of the
pathology team.

Fox Chase Cancer Center
333 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497

To make an appointment, call:
215-728-3675.

For general information, call:
1-888-FOX CHASE.
An oncology certified nurse will assist you.

Clinical Expertise:

Gynecologic Cytopathology and Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsies

Medical Education:

MD, PhD (Biomedical Sciences), University of Minnesota Medical Scientist Training Program, Minneapolis, MN, 1998

Residency:

Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2002

Fellowships:

Cytopathology Fellow, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2004;
Surgical Pathology Fellow, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, 2003

Certifications:

American Board of Pathology, Cytopathology, 2004;
American Board of Pathology, Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology, 2002

Professional Societies:

College of American Pathologists;
United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology;
Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology;
American Society of Cytopathology

Awards:

H.T. Enterline Fellowship in Surgical Pathology Award, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 2003

Research Interests:

Cancer epigentics; Cervical cancer; Molecular Biomarker Development using cytologic samples

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Publications

Research Publications:
Peer-Reviewed Publications:

1. Vercellotti GM, Yin HQ, Gustafson KS, Nelson RD, Jacob HS.  Platelet-activating factor primes neutrophil response to agonists: Role in promoting neutrophil-mediated endothelial damage. Blood.  1988; 71: 1100-1107.
2. Vercellotti GM, Wickham NWR, Gustafson KS, Yin HQ, Herbert M, Jacob HS.   Thrombin-treated endothelium primes neutrophil functions: Inhibition by platelet-activating factor receptor antagonists.  J. Leuk. Biol.  1989; 45: 483-490.
3. Tolins JP, Melemed A, Sulciner D, Gustafson KS, Vercellotti GM.  Calcium channel blockade inhibits platelet-activating factor production by human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Lipids.  1991; 26: 1218-1222.
4. Gustafson KS, Vercellotti GM, Hostetter M.  Molecular mimicry in Candida albicans: Role of an intergrin analogue in adhesion of the yeast to human endothelium. J. Clin. Invest.  1991; 87: 1896-1902.
5. Gustafson KS, Ginder GD.  Interferon-gamma induction of the human leukocyte antigen-E gene is mediated through binding of a complex containing STAT1alpha to a distinct interferon-gamma-responsive element.  J. Biol. Chem.  1996; 271: 20035-20046.
6. Yu GH, Gustafson KS, Pan ST, Wetherington RW.  Peripheral endothelial cells are not a reliable feature for the differentiation of primary benign and malignant hepatocytic lesions in fine needle aspirates of the liver.  Cytopathology.  2002; 13: 145-151.
7. Gustafson KS, LiVolsi VA, Furth EE, Pasha TL, Putt ME, Baloch ZW.  Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma expression in follicular-patterned lesions of the thyroid: Caveats for the use of immunohistochemical studies.  Am. J. Clin. Pathol.  2003; 120; 175-181.
8. Barrett DM, Gustafson KS, Wang J, Wang SZ, Ginder GD.  A GATA factor mediates cell type-restricted induction of HLA-E gene transcription by gamma interferon.  Mol. Cell. Biol.  2004; 24: 6194-6204.
9. Gustafson KS, Furth EE, Heitjan DF, Fansler ZB, Clark DP.  DNA methylation profiling of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions using liquid-based cytology specimens: an approach that utilizes receiver-operating characteristic analysis.  Cancer Cytopathol.  2004; 102: 259-268.
10. Zhang J, Martins CR, Fansler ZB, Roemer KL, Kincaid EA, Gustafson KS, Heitjan DF, Clark DP.  DNA methylation in anal intraepithelial lesions and anal squamous cell carcinoma.  Clin. Cancer Res.  2005; 11: 6544-6549.
11. Furth EE, Gustafson KS, Dai CY, Gibson SL, Menard-Katcher P, Chen T, Koh J, Enders GH.   Induction of the tumor-suppressor p16(INK4a) within regenerative epithelial crypts in ulcerative colitis.  Neoplasia.  2006; 8: 429-436.
    
12. Sherman ME, Kahler J, Gustafson KS, Wang SS.  “Sip Volume” as a quality indicator in liquid-based cervical cytology.  Cancer Cytopathol.   2006; 108: 462-467.
    
13. Owens CL, Rojas DN, Burroughs FH, Gustafson KS.  “Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion” is a distinct cytologic category: histologic outcomes and HPV prevalence.  Am. J. Clin. Pathol.  2007; 128: 398-403.
14. Gustafson KS.  Locked nucleic acids can enhance the analytical performance of quantitative methylation-specific PCR.  J. Mol. Diagn.  2008; 10: 33-42.
    
15. Kahn SL, Ronnett BM, Gravitt PE, Gustafson KS.  Quantitative methylation-specific PCR for the detection of aberrant DNA methylation in liquid-based Pap tests.  Cancer 2008; 114(1): 57-64.

Educational Publications:
Case Reports:

1. Hockstein NG, Anderson TA, Moonis G, Gustafson KS, Mirza N.  Retropharyngeal lipoma causing obstructive sleep apnea: case report including five-year follow-up.  Laryngoscope 2002; 112: 1603-1605.
2. Anderson SR, Ginsberg GG, Gustafson KS, Ohanissian HG, Yu GH.  Endoscopic ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease in an unusual location.  Diagn. Cytopathol.  2004; 31: 243-245.
3. Gustafson KS, Feldman L.  Cryptococcal lymphadenitis diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy.  Diagn. Cytopathol.  2007; 35: 103-104. 

Book Chapters:

1. Yu GH, Gustafson KS, Sturgis CD.  Fine needle aspiration.  2002. In: Sciarra J.J., ed.  Gynecology & Obstetrics.  Philadelphia, Lippincott-Raven Publishers.
2. Gustafson KS, Clark DP.  Molecular cytopathology.  2008.  In: Tubbs R. and Stoler M., eds.  Cell and Tissue Based Molecular Pathology.  Elsevier Science Publishers.