Sharon Weiss

Last updated
Sharon W. Weiss
BornJune 1945 (age 78)
Lynn, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Known forResearch in Soft Tissue Pathology and Surgical pathology.
Awards Maude Abbott Lecture and Award, Lifetime Achievement Award (United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology), Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Omega Alpha, Wellesley Alumnae Achievement Award, Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars (distinguished alumna), A James French Professor of Diagnostic Pathology (University of Michigan)
Scientific career
Fields Medicine & Pathology

Sharon Ann Whelan Weiss [1] is an American pathologist who is best known for her contribution to the subspecialty of soft tissue pathology. She is the main author of Soft Tissue Tumors, [2] one of the most widely used textbooks in the field of sarcoma and soft tissue pathology. She is also well known for her seminal descriptions of multiple soft tissue tumors, such as epithelioid hemangioendothelioma and pleomorphic hyalinizing angiectatic tumor of soft parts ("PHAT" which is categorized as a rare and locally aggressive neoplasm occurring in the lower extremities of a patient) [3] among others. She has also mentored and trained other well-known soft tissue pathologists. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Weiss was born in 1945 in Lynn, Massachusetts, the oldest of six children. Her father was an Army surgeon. [5] She received her undergraduate education at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she graduated with a B.A. in 1966. Upon graduation she married fellow physician Bernard Weiss. [5] She received her medical education at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (M.D., 1971) and residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1972–1975) in Baltimore, Maryland. [4] She was the first female to serve as Chief Resident of Pathology in the history of the hospital. [6]

Career

From 1976 to 1989 she worked as a soft tissue pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) under the mentoring of Dr. Franz Enzinger, one of the fathers of the field of soft tissue pathology. In 1989 she moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she served as the A. James French Professor of Pathology, Director of Anatomic Pathology, and Chief of Surgical Pathology. [1] In 1998 she became Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. [5] She is the director of the expert consultation service at Emory University Hospital, where she provides diagnostic second opinions on sarcomas and other soft tissue pathology cases. [7] She is also the Associate Dean for Faculty Development, a position she has held since 2006. [8]

Professional involvement and honors

Weiss served as President of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (1997–1998) and currently serves as a Trustee of the American Board of Pathology (2005 to present). [4]

Initial characterization of new soft tissue pathologic entities

Her contributions to the field have been described as "monumental". [9] She was the first to describe/characterize the following soft tissue pathologic entities:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soft-tissue sarcoma</span> Medical condition

A soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer, that develops in soft tissue. A soft-tissue sarcoma is often a painless mass that grows slowly over months or years. They may be superficial or deep-seated. Any such unexplained mass must be diagnosed by biopsy. Treatment may include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapy. The other type of sarcoma is a bone sarcoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcoma</span> Medical condition

A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sarcomas can arise in any of these types of tissues. As a result, there are many subtypes of sarcoma, which are classified based on the specific tissue and type of cell from which the tumor originates. Sarcomas are primary connective tissue tumors, meaning that they arise in connective tissues. This is in contrast to secondary connective tissue tumors, which occur when a cancer from elsewhere in the body spreads to the connective tissue. Sarcomas are one of five different types of cancer, classified by the cell type from which they originate. The word sarcoma is derived from the Greek σάρκωμα sarkōma 'fleshy excrescence or substance', itself from σάρξsarx meaning 'flesh'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhabdomyosarcoma</span> Medical condition

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a highly aggressive form of cancer that develops from mesenchymal cells that have failed to fully differentiate into myocytes of skeletal muscle. Cells of the tumor are identified as rhabdomyoblasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liposarcoma</span> Medical condition

Liposarcomas are the most common subtype of soft tissue sarcomas, accounting for at least 20% of all sarcomas in adults. Soft tissue sarcomas are rare neoplasms with over 150 different histological subtypes or forms. Liposarcomas arise from the precursor lipoblasts of the adipocytes in adipose tissues. Adipose tissues are distributed throughout the body, including such sites as the deep and more superficial layers of subcutaneous tissues as well as in less surgically accessible sites like the retroperitoneum and visceral fat inside the abdominal cavity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synovial sarcoma</span> Medical condition

A synovial sarcoma is a rare form of cancer which occurs primarily in the extremities of the arms or legs, often in proximity to joint capsules and tendon sheaths. It is a type of soft-tissue sarcoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemangioendothelioma</span> Medical condition

Hemangioendotheliomas are a family of vascular neoplasms of intermediate malignancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epithelioid sarcoma</span> Medical condition

Epithelioid sarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma arising from mesenchymal tissue and characterized by epithelioid-like features. It accounts for less than 1% of all soft tissue sarcomas. It was first clearly characterized by F.M. Enzinger in 1970. It commonly presents itself in the distal limbs of young adults as a small, soft mass or a series of bumps. A proximal version has also been described, frequently occurring in the upper extremities. Rare cases have been reported in the pelvis, vulva, penis, and spine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma</span> Medical condition

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is a rare tumor, first characterized by Sharon Weiss and Franz Enzinger in 1982 that both clinically and histologically is intermediate between angiosarcoma and hemangioma. However, a distinct, disease-defining genetic alteration recently described for EHE indicates that it is an entirely separate entity from both angiosarcoma and hemangioma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clear cell sarcoma</span> Rare form of cancer

Clear cell sarcoma is a rare form of cancer called a sarcoma. It is known to occur mainly in the soft tissues and dermis. Rare forms were thought to occur in the gastrointestinal tract before they were discovered to be different and redesignated as gastrointestinal neuroectodermal tumors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcomatoid carcinoma</span> Medical condition

Sarcomatoid carcinoma, sometimes referred to as pleomorphic carcinoma, is a relatively uncommon form of cancer whose malignant cells have histological, cytological, or molecular properties of both epithelial tumors ("carcinoma") and mesenchymal tumors ("sarcoma"). It is believed that sarcomatoid carcinomas develop from more common forms of epithelial tumors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mammary-type myofibroblastoma</span> Medical condition

Mammary-type myofibroblastoma (MFB), also named mammary and extramammary myofibroblastoma, was first termed myofibrolastoma of the breast, or, more simply, either mammary myofibroblastoma (MMFB) or just myofibroblastoma. The change in this terminology occurred because the initial 1987 study and many subsequent studies found this tumor only in breast tissue. However, a 2001 study followed by numerous reports found tumors with the microscopic histopathology and other key features of mammary MFB in a wide range of organs and tissues. Further complicating the issue, early studies on MFB classified it as one of various types of spindle cell tumors that, except for MFB, were ill-defined. These other tumors, which have often been named interchangeably in different reports, are: myelofibroblastoma, benign spindle cell tumor, fibroma, spindle cell lipoma, myogenic stromal tumor, and solitary stromal tumor. Finally, studies suggest that spindle cell lipoma and cellular angiofibroma are variants of MFB. Here, the latter two tumors are tentatively classified as MFB variants but otherwise MFB is described as it is more strictly defined in most recent publications. The World Health Organization in 2020 classified mammary type myofibroblastoma tumors and myofibroblastoma tumors as separate tumor forms within the category of fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myxoid tumor</span> Connective tissue tumor composed of clear, mucoid substance

A myxoid tumor is a connective tissue tumor with a "myxoid" background, composed of clear, mucoid substance.

Acral myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma (AMSF), also termed myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma (MSF), is a rare, low-grade, soft tissue tumor that the World Health Organization (2020) classified as in the category of rarely metastasizing fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors. It is a locally aggressive neoplasm that often recurs at the site of its surgical removal. However, it usually grows slowly and in only 1–2% of cases spreads to distant tissues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proliferative fasciitis and proliferative myositis</span> Medical condition

Proliferative fasciitis and proliferative myositis (PF/PM) are rare benign soft tissue lesions that increase in size over several weeks and often regress over the ensuing 1–3 months. The lesions in PF/PM are typically obvious tumors or swellings. Historically, many studies had grouped the two descriptive forms of PF/PM as similar disorders with the exception that proliferative fasciitis occurs in subcutaneous tissues while proliferative myositis occurs in muscle tissues. In 2020, the World Health Organization agreed with this view and defined these lesions as virtually identical disorders termed proliferative fasciitis/proliferative myositis or proliferative fasciitis and proliferative myositis. The Organization also classified them as one of the various forms of the fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors.

Fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors (FMTs) develop from the mesenchymal stem cells which differentiate into fibroblasts and/or the myocytes/myoblasts that differentiate into muscle cells. FMTs are a heterogeneous group of soft tissue neoplasms. The World Health Organization (2020) defined tumors as being FMTs based on their morphology and, more importantly, newly discovered abnormalities in the expression levels of key gene products made by these tumors' neoplastic cells. Histopathologically, FMTs consist of neoplastic connective tissue cells which have differented into cells that have microscopic appearances resembling fibroblasts and/or myofibroblasts. The fibroblastic cells are characterized as spindle-shaped cells with inconspicuous nucleoli that express vimentin, an intracellular protein typically found in mesenchymal cells, and CD34, a cell surface membrane glycoprotein. Myofibroblastic cells are plumper with more abundant cytoplasm and more prominent nucleoli; they express smooth muscle marker proteins such as smooth muscle actins, desmin, and caldesmon. The World Health Organization further classified FMTs into four tumor forms based on their varying levels of aggressiveness: benign, intermediate, intermediate, and malignant.

Myxofibrosarcoma (MFS), although a rare type of tumor, is one of the most common soft tissue sarcomas, i.e. cancerous tumors, that develop in the soft tissues of elderly individuals. Initially considered to be a type of histiocytoma termed fibrous histiocytoma or myxoid variant of malignant fibrous histiocytoma, Angervall et al. termed this tumor myxofibrosarcoma in 1977. In 2020, the World Health Organization reclassified MFS as a separate and distinct tumor in the category of malignant fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ischemic fasciitis</span> Medical condition

Ischemic fasciities (IF), also termed atypical decubital fibroplasia or decubital ischemic fasciitis, is a rare pseudosarcomatous tumor. It was first described by E. A. Montgomery et al. in 1992. This tumor typically forms in the subcutaneous tissues that overlie bony protuberances such as a hip in individuals who are debilitated and bed-ridden.

Cellular angiofibroma (CAF) is a rare, benign tumor of superficial soft tissues that was first described by M. R. Nucci et al. in 1997. These tumors occur predominantly in the distal parts of the female and male reproductive systems, i.e. in the vulva-vaginal and inguinal-scrotal areas, respectively, or, less commonly, in various other superficial soft tissue areas throughout the body. CAF tumors develop exclusively in adults who typically are more than 30 years old.

Angiofibroma of soft tissue (AFST), also termed angiofibroma, not otherwise specified, is a recently recognized and rare disorder that was classified in the category of benign fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors by the World Health Organization in 2020. An AFST tumor is a neoplasm that was first described by A. Mariño-Enríquez and C.D. Fletcher in 2012.

Low-grade myofibroblastic sarcoma (LGMS) is a subtype of the malignant sarcomas. As it is currently recognized, LGMS was first described as a rare, atypical myofibroblastic tumor by Mentzel et al. in 1998. Myofibroblastic sarcomas had been divided into low-grade myofibroblastic sarcomas, intermediate‐grade myofibroblasic sarcomas, i.e. IGMS, and high‐grade myofibroblasic sarcomas, i.e. HGMS based on their microscopic morphological, immunophenotypic, and malignancy features. LGMS and IGMS are now classified together by the World Health Organization (WHO), 2020, in the category of intermediate fibroblastic and myofibroblastic tumors. WHO, 2020, classifies HGMS as a soft tissue tumor in the category of tumors of uncertain differentiation. This article follows the WHO classification: here, LGMS includes IGMS but not HGMS which is a more aggressive and metastasizing tumor than LGMS and consists of cells of uncertain origin.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sharon Ann Whelan Weiss, 1997-98". United States College of American Pathologists. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  2. ↑ MD, Sharon W. Weiss; FACG, John R. Goldblum MD FCAP FASCP; MD, Andrew L. Folpe (14 December 2007). Enzinger and Weiss's Soft Tissue Tumors, 5e. Mosby. ISBN   978-0323046282.
  3. ↑ Yamamoto A., Kikuchi Y., Abe S., Ishida T., Kaminaga T. High FDG Uptake in Pleomorphic Hyalinizing Angiectatic Tumor. Clin. Nucl. Med.. 2020;45(5):407-409. doi:10.1097/RLU.0000000000003001
  4. 1 2 3 "Pathology Faculty Member". pathology.emory.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-04-14. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  5. 1 2 3 "Wellesley College Alumnae Association". www.wellesley.edu.
  6. ↑ "biography - Sharon Weiss, MD (Georgia)". www.nlm.nih.gov.
  7. ↑ "Expert Consultation / Second Opinion". pathology.emory.edu.
  8. ↑ Emory School of Medicine Faculty Bio Archived 2011-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Hastings, Hope; Goldblum, John R. (March 13, 2017). "Perspectives on Low-grade Sarcomas: The Extraordinary Contributions of Sharon W. Weiss, MD". Advances in Anatomic Pathology. 24 (4): 195–200. doi:10.1097/PAP.0000000000000145. PMID   28291056. S2CID   4297802.
  10. ↑ Weiss, Sharon W.; Enzinger, F. M. (1982). "Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma a vascular tumor often mistaken for a carcinoma". Cancer. 50 (5): 970–81. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19820901)50:5<970::AID-CNCR2820500527>3.0.CO;2-Z. PMID   7093931.
  11. ↑ Zukerberg, Lawrence R.; Nickoloff, Brian J.; Weiss, Sharon W. (1993). "Kaposiform Hemangioendothelioma of Infancy and Childhood: An Aggressive Neoplasm Associated with Kasabach-Merritt Syndrome and Lymphangiomatosis". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 17 (4): 321–8. doi:10.1097/00000478-199304000-00001. PMID   8494101. S2CID   29513482.
  12. ↑ Weiss, Sharon Whelan; Enzinger, F. M. (1977). "Myxoid variant of malignant fibrous histiocytoma". Cancer. 39 (4): 1672–85. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(197704)39:4<1672::AID-CNCR2820390442>3.0.CO;2-C. PMID   192434.
  13. ↑ Goldblum, JR; Beals, TF; Weiss, SW (1994). "Neuroblastoma-like neurilemoma". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 18 (3): 266–73. doi:10.1097/00000478-199403000-00006. PMID   8116794. S2CID   46019887.
  14. 1 2 Weiss, Sharon W.; Gnepp, Douglas R.; Bratthauer, Gary L. (1989). "Palisaded Myofibroblastoma". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 13 (5): 341–6. doi:10.1097/00000478-198905000-00001. PMID   2712186. S2CID   19326297.
  15. ↑ Smith, Mark E. F.; Fisher, Cyril; Weiss, Sharon W. (1996). "Pleomorphic Hyalinizing Angiectatic Tumor of Soft Parts". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 20 (1): 21–9. doi:10.1097/00000478-199601000-00002. PMID   8540605.
  16. ↑ Perkins, Philip; Weiss, Sharon W. (1996). "Spindle Cell Hemangioendothelioma". The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 20 (10): 1196–204. doi:10.1097/00000478-199610000-00004. PMID   8827025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.