• Department of Pathology
  • Pathology Staff
  • Licenses and Accreditations
• Department of Laboratory Medicine
  • Laboratory Medicine Staff
• Affiliated Hospitals
  • Moffitt-Long
  • Mount Zion Medical Center
  • San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center
  • San Francisco General
• Faculty
• News
  • News Archive
  • Honors and Awards Archive

Research and Clinical Interests

My mission within the Department of Pathology is threefold. My major focus is genitourinary pathology, where I closely interact with the urologic oncology group of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center concerning clinical and basic science problems. A large number of research projects amenable to resident participation are available in this area. Specific areas include radiologic-pathologic correlation studies and imaging technology development (mainly focused on MRI/MRSI of the prostate and kidney), biomarker discovery efforts, clinical-pathologic correlation studies, and tumor model construction and characterization. These efforts also extend to my participation in some of the cooperative groups performing national clinical trials (RTOG and CALGB). I also participate in biospecimen banking efforts here at UCSF, and on a national level through participation in the RTOG, one of the NCI-sponsored cooperative groups performing international clinical trials related to cancer treatment. The Institute of Medicine recently issued a report stressing the importance of these biospecimen banks in our efforts to improve treatments for cancer patients. I also perform general surgical pathology sign out duties. For additional information, please link to:

• http://cancer.ucsf.edu/people/...
• http://cancer.ucsf.edu/prostate_spore/...
• http://rtog.org/

Selected Publications

• D. Ornish, M Magbanua, G Weidner, V Weinberg, C Kemp, C Green, M Mattie, R Marlin, J Simko, K Shinohara, C Haqq and P Carroll, "Changes in prostate Gene expresssion in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention," PNAS 105(24):  8369-74 (2008).
• Conti SL, Dall'era M, Fradet V, Cowan JE, Simko J, Carroll PR, "Pathological outcomes of candidates for active surveillance of prostate cancer," J Urol 181(4):  1628-33 (2009).
• Hou Y, DeVoss J, Dao V, Kwek S, Simko JP, McNeel DG, Anderson MS, Fong L, "An aberrant prostate antigen-specific immune response causes prostatitis in mice and is associated with chronic prostatitis in humans," J Clin Invest 119(7):  2031-41 (2009).
• Whitson JM, Porten SP, Cowan JE, Simko JP, Cooperberg MR, Carroll PR, "Factors associated with downgrading in patients with high grade prostate cancer," Urol Oncol. 2011 Apr 7. [Epub ahead of print]
• McKenney JK, Simko J, Bonham M, True LD, Troyer D, Hawley S, Newcomb LF, Fazli L, Kunju LP, Nicolas MM, Vakar-Lopez F, Zhang X, Carroll PR, Brooks JD; Canary/Early Detection Research Network Prostate Active Surveillance Study Investigators, "The potential impact of reproducibility of Gleason grading in men with early stage prostate cancer managed by active surveillance: a multi-institutional study," J Urol 186(2): 465-9 (2011).
• Jalas JR, Vemula S, Bezrookove V, Leboit PE, Simko JP, Bastian BC, "Metastatic melanoma with striking adenocarcinomatous differentiation illustrating phenotypic plasticity in melanoma," Am J Surg Pathol 35(9): 1413-8 (2011).
• Magbanua MJ, Sosa EV, Scott JH, Simko J, Collins C, Pinkel D, Ryan CJ, Park JW, "Isolation and genomic analysis of circulating tumor cells from castration resistant metastatic prostate cancer," BMC Cancer. 2012 Feb 28;12(1):78. [Epub ahead of print]
• Busch S, Hatridge M, Mößle M, Myers W, Wong T, Mück M, Chew K, Kuchinsky K, Simko J, Clarke J, "Measurements of T(1) -relaxation in ex vivo prostate tissue at 132 μT," Magn Reson Med. 2012 Apr;67(4):1138-45. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24177. Epub 2012 Jan 31.
• Ausborn NL, Le QT, Bradley JD, Choy H, Dicker AP, Saha D, Simko J, Story MD, Torossian A, Lu B, "Molecular Profiling to Optimize Treatment in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Review of Potential Molecular Targets for Radiation Therapy by the Translational Research Program of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group," Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012 Apr 18. [Epub ahead of print]
• Ross HM, Kryvenko ON, Cowan JE, Simko JP, Wheeler TM, Epstein JI, "Do Adenocarcinomas of the Prostate With Gleason Score (GS)≤6 Have the Potential to Metastasize to Lymph Nodes?," Am J Surg Pathol. 2012 Apr 22. [Epub ahead of print]

Additional Information

• Detailed CV

• Associate Professor
• Pathology, Urology and Radiation Oncology

Specialty Area

Prostate, bladder and kidney tumor surgical pathology and research

Contact Information

• jeff.simko@ucsf.edu
• Phone: (415) 353-7581
• Fax: (415) 353-7276

• 1600 Divisadero Street
• Room B620, Box 1785
• San Francisco, CA 94143

Other UCSF Organizational Association(s)

• Director, Genitourinary Program Tissue Core, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Associate Director, RTOG Biospecimen Resource at UCSF (An NCI Sponsored National Cooperative Group Resource)