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Nizar M. Tannir, MD, FACP

Present Title & Affiliation

Primary Appointment

Associate Professor, Department of Genitourinary (GU) Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Office Address

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
1155 Pressler St.
Unit 1374
Unit Number: Unit 1374
Houston, TX 77030
Room Number: CPB7.3470
Phone: (713) 792-2830
Fax: (713) 745-1625 / 713-745-0422
Email: ntannir@mdanderson.org

Education & Training

Degree-Granting Education

1979 American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, MD, Medicine
1975 American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, BS, Biology/Chemistry

Postgraduate Training

8/2000-11/2000 Clinical Fellowship, Leukemia, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
7/1985-6/1986 Clinical Fellowship, Hematology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ
7/1981-6/1984 Clinical Fellowship, Medical Oncology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston, TX

Board Certifications

11/2000 American Board of Internal Medicine/Hematology
11/2000 American Board Internal Medicine/Medical Oncology
1/1987 American Board Internal Medicine/Medical Oncology
1/1986 American Board of Internal Medicine/Hematology
1/1985 American Board of Internal Medicine

Experience/Service

Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities

Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Clinic, Department of Genitourinary (GU) Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2008-present
Director, Kentucky Cancer Clinic, Hazard, KY, 11/1997-12/1999
Voluntary Faculty, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 11/1986-12/1999

Other Appointments/Responsibilities

Private Practice; Hematology Oncology, Appalachian Regional Medical Center, Hazard, KY, 11/1986-12/1999

Honors and Awards

2008 America's Top Oncologist, Guide to America's Top Oncologists
2008 Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program 2008 "Teacher of the Year", M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
2008 Vicente Valero LBJ Clinician-Educator of the Year, LBJ Hospital / M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
2001 Benefactors Award, Governor of Kentucky

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles
1. Jonasch E, Corn P, Pagliaro L, Wawrneke CL, Johnson MM, Tamboli P, Ng C, Aparicio A, Ashe R, Wright JJ, Tannir N. Upfront randomized phase II trial of sorafenib versus sorafenib and low-dose interferon alpha in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma: clinical and biomarker analysis. Cancer. In Press.
2. Rodney A, Gombos D, Fuller G, Pagliaro LC, Tannir N. Choroidal and conjunctival metastases from renal cell carcinoma. Amer J Clin Oncol 32(4):448-9, 8/2009. PMID: 19657240.
3. Jonasch E, Wood CG, Matin SF, Tu S-M, Pagliaro LC, Corn PG, Aparicio A, Tamboli P, Millikan RE, Wang X, Araujo JC Arap W, Tannir N. Phase II presurgical feasibility study of bevacizumab in untreated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. J Clin Oncol. e-Pub 7/2009. PMID: 19636008.
4. Chen M, Ye Y, Yang H, Tamboli P, Matin S, Tannir NM, Wood CG, Gu J, Wu X. Genome-wide profiling of chromosomal alterations in renal cell carcinoma using high-density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. Int J Cancer. e-Pub 6/11/2009. PMID: 19521957.
5. Montero A, Diaz-Montero C, Millikan R, Liu J, Do, D-A, Hodges S, Jonasch E, McIntyre B, Hwu P, Tannir N. Cytokines and angiogenic factors in metastatic renal cell cancer: association of pretreatment serum levels with survival. Ann Oncol. e-Pub 6/2009. PMID: 19541791.
6. Chen M, Ye Y, Yang H, Matin S, Tannir NM, Wood CG, Gu J, Wu X. Genome-wide profiling of chromosomal alterations in reanal cell carcinoma using high-density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. INt J Cancer. e-Pub 6/2009. PMID: 19521957.
7. Vikram R, Ng CS, Tamboli P, Tannir NM, Jonasch E, Matin SF, Wood C, Sandler CM. Papillary renal cell carcinoma: Radiologic-pathologic correlation and spectrum of disease. Radiographics 29(3):741-54; discussion 755-7, May-Jun, 5/2009. PMID: 19448113.
8. Svatek RS, Spiess PE, Sundi D, Tu SM, Tannir NM, Brown GA, Kamat AM, Wood CG, Pisters LL. Long-term outcome for men with teratoma found at postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissesction. Cancer 115(6):1310-1317, 3/2009. PMID: 19156903.
9. Clague J, Lin J, Cassidy A, Matin S, Tannir NM, Tamboli P, Wood CG, Wu X. Family history and risk of renal cell carcinoma: results from a case-control study and systematic meta-analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18(3):801-807, 2/2009. e-Pub 2/2009. PMID: 19240244.
10. Rodney A, Gombos D, Pagliaro LC, Tannir N. Ischemic optic neuropathy associated with low dose interferon alfa: Report of two cases. Am J Clin Oncol 32(1):86-87, 2/2009. PMID: 19194130.
11. Dubauskas Z, Kunishige J, Prieto VG, Kantrow SM, Jonasch E, Hwy P, Tannir NM. Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and inflammation of actinic keratoses associated with sorafenib. Clin Genitourin Cancer 7(1):20-3, 1/2009. PMID: 19213663.
12. Margulis V, Matin SF, Tannir N, Tamboli P, Shen Y, Lozano M, Swanson DA, Jonasch E, Wood CG. A randomized trial of adjuvant thalidomide versus observation in patients with completely resected high risk renal cell carcinoma. Urology 73(2):337-41, 2009. e-Pub 10/31/2008. PMID: 18950837.
13. Aparicio A, North B, Barske L, Wang X, Bollati V, Weisenberger D, Yoo C, Horne E, Tannir N, Groshen S, Jones P, Yang A, Issa J-P. LINE-1 methylationin plasma DNA as a biomarker of activity of DNA methylation inhibitors in patients with solid tumors. Epigenetics 4(3), Apr 6, 2009. PMID: 19421002.
14. Plimack ER, Tannir N, Lin E, Bekele BN, Jonasch E. Patterns of disease progression in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients treated with antivascular agents and interferon: impact of therapy on recurrence patterns and outcome measures. Cancer 115(9):1859-66, 2009. e-Pub 2/2009. PMID: 19241453.
15. Daliani DD, Tannir NM, Papandreou CN, Wang X, Swisher S, Wood CG, Swanson DA, Logothetis CJ, Jonasch E. Prospective assessment of systemic therapy followed by surgical removal of metastases in selected patients with renal cell carcinoma. BJU Int, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19338544.
16. Lin J, Pu X, Wang W, Matin S, Tannir NM, Wood CG, Wu X. Case-control analysis of nucleotide excision repair pathway and the risk of renal cell carcinoma. Carcinogenesis 29(11):2112-2119, 11/2008. e-Pub 8/18/2008. PMID: 18711149.
17. Ng CS, Wood CG, Silverman PM, Tannir NM, Tamboli P, Sandler CM. Renal cell carcinoma: diagnosis, staging, and surveillance - Review. AJR Am J Roentgenol 191(4):1220-1230. Review, 10/2008. PMID: 18806169.
18. Bilen MA, Waguespack SG, Tannir NM, Pravinkumar SE, Tamboli P, Tu S-M. Multisystem crisis in a patient with presumptive renal cell carcinoma. Clin Genitourin Cancer 6(2):128-130, 9/2008. PMID: 18824438.
19. Jain R, Mathew P, Wood CG, Tannir NM. Sunitinib-induced acute hemolysis without hypertension: A case report. Clin Genitourin Cancer 6(2):122-123, 9/2008. PMID: 18824436.
20. Tannir NM, Thall PF, Ng CS, Wang X, Wooten L, Siefker-Radtke A, Mathew P, Pagliaro, L, Wood C, Jonasch E. A phase II trial of gemcitabine plus capecitabine in metastatic renal cell cancer previously treated with immunotherapy and targeted agents. J Urol 180(3). e-Pub 7/2008. PMID: 18635226.
21. Hong DS, Reddy SB, Prieto VG, Wright JJ, Tannir NM, Cohen RP, Diwan AH, Evans HL, Kurzrock R. Multiple squamous cell carcinomas of the skin after therapy with sorafenib combined with tipifarnib. Arch Dermatol 144(6):779-82, 6/2008. PMID: 18559769.
22. Spiess PE, Pisters LL, Liu P, Pettaway CA, Kamat AM, Gomez JA, Tannir NM. Malignant transformation of testicular teratoma: A chemoresistant phenotype. Urol Oncol 26(6):595-596, Nov-Dec, 1/2008. e-Pub 1/14/2008. PMID: 18367105.
23. Jonasch E, Tannir NM. Adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapy in renal cell carcinoma. Cancer J 14(5):315-9, Sep-Oct, 2008. PMID: 18836336.
24. Khakoo AY, Kassiotis CM, Tannir N, Plana JC, Halushka M, Bickford C, Trent J 2nd, Champion JC, Durand JD, Lenihan DJ. Heart failure associated with sunitinib malate: a multitargeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Cancer 112(11):2500-8, 2008 Jun, 2008. PMID: 18386829.
25. Margulis V, Matin SF, Tannir N, Tamboli P, Swanson DA, Jonasch E, Wood CG. Surgical morbidity associated with administration of targeted molecular therapies prior to cytoreductie nephrectomy or resection of locally recurrent renal cell carcinoma. J Urol 180(1):94-8, 2008. e-Pub 5/2008. PMID: 18485389.
26. Jonasch E, Wood C, Tamboli P. Pagliaro LC, Tu SM, Kim J, Sirvastava P, Perez C, Isakov L, Tannir N. Vaccination of metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients with autologous tumour-derived vitespen vaccine: clinical findings. Br J Cancer 98(8):1336-41, 2008. e-Pub 3/2008. PMID: 18362942.
27. Spiess PE, Tannir NM, Brown GA, Liu P, Tu SM, Evans JG, Pisters LL. Recurrence in nonseminomatous germ cell testis tumor patients with no viable tumor at postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lympho node dissection. Urology 70(6):1173-1178, 12/2007. PMID: 18158041.
28. Spiess PE, Tannir NM, Tu SM, Brown GA, Liu P, Kamat AM, Wood CG, Evans JG, Pisters LL. Viable germ cell tumor at post-chemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection: Can we predict patients at risk of disease progression? Cancer 110(12):2700-2708, 12/2007. PMID: 17948916.
29. Kassouf W, Sanchez-Ortiz R, Tamboli P, Tannir N, Jonasch E, Merchant MM, Matin SF, Swanson DA, Wood CG. Cytoreductive nephrectomy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma with non-clear histology. J Urol 178(5):1896-1900, 11/2007. e-Pub 9/2007. PMID: 17868729.
30. Small EJ, Fontana J, Tannir N, DiPaola R, Wilding G, Rubin M, Bailey Iacona R, Kabbinavar FF. A phase II trial of gefitinib in patients with non-metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer. BJU Int 100(4):765-769, 10/2007. PMID: 17822457.
31. Mathew P, Thall PF, Bucana CD, Oh WK, Morris MJ, Jones DM, Johnson MM, Wen S, Pagliaro LC, Tannir NM, Tu SM, Meluch AA, Smith L, Cohen L, Kim SJ, Troncoso P, Fidler IJ, Logothetis CJ. Platelet-derived growth factor receptor inhibition and chemotherapy for castration-resistant prostate cancer with bone metastases. Clin Cancer Res 13(19):5816-5824, 10/2007. PMID: 17908974.
32. Shao L, Wood CG, Zhang D, Tannir NM, Matin S, Dinney CP, Wu X. Telomere dysfunction in peripheral lymphocytes as a potential predisposition factor for renal cancer. J Urol 178(4 Pt 1):1492-1496, 10/2007. e-Pub 8/2007. PMID: 17707063.
33. Spiess PE, Pettaway CA, Vakar-Lopez F, Kassouf W, Wang X, Busby JE, Do KA, Davuluri R, Tannir NM. Treatment outcomes of small cell carcinoma of the prostate: A single-center study. Cancer 110(8):1729-1737, 10/2007. PMID: 17786954.
34. Lin PP, Mirza AN, Lewis VO, Cannon CP, Tu SM, Tannir NM, Yasko AW. Patient survival after surgery for osseous metastases from renal cell carcinoma. J Bone Joint Surg Am 89(8):1794-801, 8/2007. PMID: 17671020.
35. Thall PF, Wooten LH, Logothetis CJ, Millikan RE, Tannir NM. Bayesian and frequentist two-stage treatment strategies based on sequential failure times subject to interval censoring. Stat Med 26(26):4687-4702, 4/2007. e-Pub 4/2007. PMID: 17427204.
36. Spiess PE, Brown GA, Liu P, Tu SM, Tannir NM, Evans JG, Kamat AM, Kassouf W, Pisters LL. Recurrence pattern and proposed surveillance protocol following post-chemotherapy retroperitineal lymph node dissection. J Urol 177(1):131-138, 1/2007. PMID: 17162023.
37. Nakayama K, Tannir NM, Liu P, Wathen JK, Cheng YC, Champlin RE, Ueno NT. Natural history of metastatic renal cell carcinoma in patients who underwent consultation for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 13(8):975-985, 2007. PMID: 17640602.
38. Ebbinghaus S, Hussain M, Tannir N, Gordon M, Desai AA, Knight RA, Humerickhouse RA, Qian J, Gordon GB, Figlin R. Phase 2 study of ABT-510 in patients with previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res 13(22 Pt 1):6689-6695, 2007. PMID: 18006769.
39. Spiess PE, Kassouf W, Brown GA, Kamat AM, Liu P, Gomez JA, Tu SM, Tannir NM, Pisters LL. Surgical management of growing teratoma syndrome: the M.D. Anderson Cancer experience. J Urol 177(4):1330-1334; discussion 1334, 2007. PMID: 17382725.
40. Tannir NM, Cohen L, Wang X, Thall P, Mathew PF, Jonasch E, Siefker-Radtke A, Pagliaro LC, Ng CS, Logothetis C. Improved tolerability and quality of life with maintained efficacy using twice-daily low-dose interferon-alpha-2b: Results of a randomized phase II trial of low-dose versus intermediate-dose interferon-alpha-2b in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Cancer 107(9):2254-2261, 11/2006. PMID: 17029276.
41. Spiess PE, Brown GA, Liu P, Tannir NM, Tu SM, Evans JG, Czerniak B, Kamat AM, Pisters LL. Predictors of outcome in patients undergoing postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for testicular cancer. Cancer 107(7):1483-1490, 10/2006. PMID: 16944541.
42. Spiess PE, Brown GA, Pisters LL, Liu P, Tu SM, Evans JG, Kamat AM, Black P, Tannir NM. Viable malignant germ cell tumor in the postchemotherapy retroperiitoneal lymph node dissection specimen: can it be predicted using clinical parameters? Cancer 107(7):1503-1510, 10/2006. PMID: 16944534.
43. Rodney A, Dieringer P, Mathew P, Jonasch E, Tannir N, Pagliaro LC. Phase II study of capecitabine combined with gemcitabine in the treatment of androgen-independent prostate cancer previously treated with taxanes. Cancer 106(10):2143-2147, 5/2006. PMID: 16598751.
44. Tannir N, Jonasch E, Pagliaro LC, Mathew P, Siefker-Radtke A, Rhines L, Lin P, Tibbs R, Do KA, Lin SH, Tu SM. Pilot trial of bone-targeted therapy with zoledronate, thalidomide, and interferon-gamma for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Cancer 107(3):497-505, 2006. PMID: 16795067.
45. Ahrar K, Matin S, Wood CG, Wallace MJ, Gupta S, Madoff DC, Rao S, Tannir NM, Jonasch E, Pisters LL, Rozner MA, Kennamer DL, Hicks ME. Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of renal tumors: technique, complications, and outcomes. J Vasc Interv Radiol 16(5):679-688, 5/2005. PMID: 15872323.
46. Thall PF, Wooten LH, Tannir NM. Monitoring event times in early phase clinical trials: some practical issues. Clin Trials 2(6):467-478, 2005. PMID: 16422307.

Invited Articles
1. Jonasch E and Tannir NM. Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapy in Renal Cell Carcinoma. The Cancer Journal 14(5), 9/2008.
Other Articles
1. Spiess PE, Tannir NM. Reply. Urol Oncol 27(2):218-9, Mar-Apr, 2009. PMID: 19285239.
2. Cheung YC, Tannir N, Champlin RE, Ueno NT. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation for metastatic RCC. Kidney Cancer J 3(3):11-20, 2005.

Last updated: 9/21/2009