George Yousef

MD, FRCPC, PhD, MSc

Scientist

Biography

Dr. George Yousef is an anatomical pathologist and the Chief of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children. He is a Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto and an Associate Scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital.

Dr. Yousef’s research laboratory is internationally recognized in miRNA research. It is one of the leading laboratories focusing on the cancer biomarkers in renal cell carcinoma and prostate cancer using an integrated genomic, quantitative proteomic, transcriptomic and miRNA approaches with extensive bioinformatics analysis. He has published extensively about the discovery of the kallikrein family of tumor markers and their roles as cancer biomarkers.

Dr. Yousef is a founding member of the International Scientific Committee of Kallikreins and was the Chair of the 5th International Symposium on Kallikreins in 2013. He is also the Vice President of the International Society of Enzymology.

He has over 250 published research papers and review articles and 15 book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Pathology and serves as a reviewer for over 40 journals. He is also the Editor of a book on “Molecular Pathology in Cancer”. He serves as a reviewer for many national and international granting agencies.

He has served on numerous academic and governmental advisory committees, including the International Kallikrein Nomenclature Committee and the International Society of Urologic Pathology Kidney Cancer Classification in 2012. He is also a co-leader of the Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada personalized medicine initiative; and member of the steering committee for prostate cancer management in Ontario.

At the pathology education frontier, he is a member of the Royal College Examination Board in Anatomical Pathology and is leading the committee to digitalize the Royal College Exam in Pathology. He is also a founding member and Chair of Pathology Informatics at the Canadian Association of Pathologists. His research has been recognized by prestigious awards from the Royal College of Physicians, Canadian Association of Pathologists, and the United States National Academy of Clinical Chemistry.

Please note: Dr. Yousef is not taking any summer students.

Recent Publications

  1. Prassas, I, Clarke, B, Youssef, T, Phlamon, J, Dimitrakopoulos, L, Rofaeil, A et al.. Computational pathology: an evolving concept. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2024; :. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2023-1124. PubMed PMID:38646706 .
  2. Bruce, C, Prassas, I, Mokhtar, M, Clarke, B, Youssef, E, Wang, C et al.. Transforming diagnostics: The implementation of digital pathology in clinical laboratories. Histopathology. 2024; :. doi: 10.1111/his.15178. PubMed PMID:38516992 .
  3. Castillo, VF, Masoomian, M, Trpkov, K, Downes, M, Brimo, F, van der Kwast, T et al.. ABCC2 brush-border expression predicts outcome in papillary renal cell carcinoma: a multi-institutional study of 254 cases. Histopathology. 2023;83 (6):949-958. doi: 10.1111/his.15042. PubMed PMID:37680023 .
  4. Ma, W, Rousseau, Z, Slavkovic, S, Shen, C, Yousef, GM, Ni, H et al.. Doxorubicin-Induced Platelet Activation and Clearance Relieved by Salvianolic Acid Compound: Novel Mechanism and Potential Therapy for Chemotherapy-Associated Thrombosis and Thrombocytopenia. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022;15 (12):. doi: 10.3390/ph15121444. PubMed PMID:36558895 PubMed Central PMC9788583.
  5. Park, PC, Kurek, KC, DeCoteau, J, Howlett, CJ, Hawkins, C, Izevbaye, I et al.. CAP-ACP Workload Model for Advanced Diagnostics in Precision Medicine. Am J Clin Pathol. 2022;158 (1):105-111. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/aqac012. PubMed PMID:35195689 .
  6. Lin, HS, Ding, Q, Lichner, Z, Kim, SS, Saleeb, R, Farag, M et al.. The Impact of Modifying Sunitinib Treatment Scheduling on Renal Cancer Tumor Biology and Resistance. J Clin Med. 2022;11 (2):. doi: 10.3390/jcm11020369. PubMed PMID:35054064 PubMed Central PMC8779527.
  7. Saleeb, RM, Brimo, F, Gao, Y, Boulos, C, Kim, SS, Al Bashir, S et al.. ABCC2 expression in papillary renal cell carcinoma provides better prognostic stratification than WHO/ISUP nucleolar grade. Hum Pathol. 2022;120 :57-70. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2021.12.006. PubMed PMID:34958810 .
  8. Khatab, Z, Yousef, GM. Disruptive innovations in the clinical laboratory: catching the wave of precision diagnostics. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2021;58 (8):546-562. doi: 10.1080/10408363.2021.1943302. PubMed PMID:34297653 .
  9. Mirham, L, Hanna, J, Yousef, GM. Addressing the Diagnostic Miscommunication in Pathology. Am J Clin Pathol. 2021;156 (4):521-528. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/aqab014. PubMed PMID:33907793 .
  10. Hu, L, Krylova, SM, Liu, SK, Yousef, GM, Krylov, SN. Necessity and Challenges of Sample Preconcentration in Analysis of Multiple MicroRNAs by Capillary Electrophoresis. Anal Chem. 2020;92 (20):14251-14258. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c03605. PubMed PMID:33006882 .
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Affiliations & Other Activities

  • Division Head, Molecular Diagnostics, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Anatomical Pathologist, Laboratory Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital
  • Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto
  • Professor, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
  • Member, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto